10 TROUT FISHING 



river offers him no resistance from force of water, 

 lie has merely to paddle himself at his leisure, and 

 when not requiring food, to retire to some quiet 

 deep hole for more perfect rest and sin mber ; and 

 again when his appetite calls him forth to seek 

 food, he does it quietly and deliberately, knowing 

 that as the resistance of the water is but slight to 

 him, it can be but slow in removing his prey from 

 his reach ; and should a fly attract his gaze from 

 his deep haunts, he has a considerable space to 

 swim through in a direct line ere he can catch it, 

 and consequently has much time to observe the 

 insect and perhaps be pleased or displeased with 

 its kind or exact form, and should the attraction 

 be but artificial, of course with much consideration, 

 he is well able to discern the deception, and ulti- 

 mately refuse it altogether; moreover in these 

 deep and sluggish waters, trout feed extensively 

 on grubs, small fish, and such food as is generated 

 usually in abundance by the sides of such streams ; 

 they are not therefore so much induced to be con- 

 stantly snatching at every little silly fly that may 

 come within their grasp, which after all the 

 trouble requisite to catch him, is in truth but a 

 small morsel. In these kinds of streams too, the 

 number of the trout actually present is propor- 

 tionally small as compared with the amount of 

 food to be obtained, they have therefore less pres- 

 sure of the necessity to race for every mouthful ; 

 they grow too, usually to a large size, since they 

 live more summers than the little fellows in the 

 small streams ordinarily do, and being less per- 



