CHAPTER V 



TROUT AND THE WEATHER 



EVER since Noah looked out of the Ark each 

 morning and asked, "Is it still raining?" weather 

 has heen the paramount subject of discussion. 

 In city or country, by radiator or camp-fire, it 

 is always our first and last resort in conversation. 

 To the angler no topic is of greater importance 

 than this hackneyed one of weather, for upon it, 

 he thinks, hinges the fortunes of his day 

 a-stream. Be it far from me to shatter the idols 

 of any brother of the angle, or to simply run 

 amuck amid fishing traditions, but I think the 

 importance of mere weather has been much over- 

 rated. Have we not all heard from youth up: 

 "Fish bite best when it rains," "Fish will not rise 

 in a thunderstorm," "It is useless to fish for trout 

 when the sun shines full on the stream," etc., etc. 

 In fact, if we were to believe all that we hear as 

 to when to fish, we never would cast fly or boat, 

 for, to borrow an old saw, weather which is "one 

 man's meat, is another man's poison." 



No angling superstition is more prevalent than 



27 



