EARLY TROUT FISHING. 279 



When May comes, and richer June, the trout 

 often disdain to gobble the daintiest composi- 

 tion of silk, hair, feathers, and fur, and will 

 tantalize you for hours by rolling over and 

 making believe to seize your hare's ear, your 

 wren's tail, or what not. In March the fish 

 are bold and inexperienced. You must not, 

 however, on that account trust to clumsy 

 tackle. Let your rod be light and springy, 

 your casting line thin and slightly coloured, so 

 as to take the white gleam out of it, your flies 

 arranged to suit the dimensions and history of 

 the brook you adventure upon. Always bear 

 in mind that every brook and rivulet, great 

 and little, have their - own idiosyncrasies and 

 characteristics as far as trout are concerned. 

 These vary with every month, and no direc- 

 tion or instruction applicable to one will be 

 applicable rigidly to another which may be 

 situated only a mile or so away. It is, then, 

 absolutely necessary for the angler who desires 

 to cast his flies over strange waters to seek the 

 advice or aid of that gaitered or booted 

 poacher with cat-gut round his hat, who 

 is invariably found haunting the stream. It 



