98 TROUT LORE 



approached by larger waters. You soon learn 

 all about them, every pool, eddy, and glancing 

 rapid is as familiar to you as the topography of 

 your own home a knowledge denied the fisher 

 of great rivers. Forever commend me to the lit- 

 tle brooks. 



As intimate acquaintance is the secret of the 

 little brook's attractiveness, so it is also the secret 

 of successful angling. The first excursion to 

 one of those streams is apt to prove fruitless, for 

 the trout are wary beyond any other fish, and 

 only he who learns where to cast without making 

 his presence known may hope for success. I re- 

 member one little trout stream discovered by me 

 some years ago, a stream flowing through a 

 thickly settled farming community, cold and 

 clear in spite of cows and sheep because fed from 

 a number of springs. It was not a natural water, 

 but some wandering ichthyic Johnny Appleseed 

 dumped a can or two of fry into one of the 

 springs in an early day and promptly forgot all 

 about it. As a result, after he had been gathered 

 to his fathers, disciples of Izaak Walton flocked 

 to the little stream. It was "fished out" and 

 again forgotten. Then one day I happened to 

 cast a speculative fly upon its limpid surface and 

 the glimpse I caught of a darting fish caused my 



