290 TROUT PISHING. 



CHAPTER III. 



ALTHOUGH on some rivers trout fishing com- 

 mences in March, those who follow the 

 pursuit as a fine art prefer to wait till later in 

 the season. By this they lose many chances of 

 heavy creels. The fish at this time are not 

 cunning in the detection of the lures thrown 

 out for their capture. 



Every stream, as I have said before, has a 

 character of its own, has its good month and 

 its bad month, but fair sport may be had 

 occasionally during cold weather, before spring 

 has quite lost the chill of winter. Nay, 

 even in a snow storm (before the stream 

 gets the colour of snow-water) it is possible to 

 have good fortunes in the gentle recreation. 

 The variety, the coquettishness, so to speak, of 

 rivers, renders it exceedingly difficult to lay 

 down laws of wide application for trout fishing, 

 Of course, you must acquire the first principles 

 of the craft ; and they are not to be learned out 

 of a book. The tyro, spending his days and 

 nights in piscatorial treatises, will go next day 



