ON RAPID STREAMS. 137 



behind the hills, and, generally speaking, I feel a 

 preference in other modes of fishing after three 

 p.m. The kind of day which seems best suited for 

 it to display its excellence over other modes of 

 fishing, is when the sun is very bright as well as 

 hot. I have often, however, found it beat the fly, 

 worm, and minnow of a dull hot cloudy day, and 

 even when it has been raining hard. I have never 

 known it beat the others .on a windy day; the 

 trout in windy weather are sure to take it short ; 

 they rush and make a great fuss, which seldom 

 means work ; they rise short, or on one side ; and 

 though perhaps you may rise any amount of them, 

 you will kill only a few, and these of small size : 

 consequently, if you persist with the beetle, under 

 such circumstances, you will not only do very little 

 with it, but you will waste time and opportunity 

 for more successful efforts in other ways. You do 

 not want to see your fish rise and splash about 

 with much demonstration ; the trout that means 

 to make sure of your beetle, as a rule, does not 

 rise if he can help it ; he takes your beetle while 

 it is beneath the surface of the water, and to do 

 so makes a sharp dart and a turn of the body, 

 which displays him to your watchful eye/ and 

 before your wrist can respond to the sight, he has 

 it greedily clutched in his mouth, and you will 

 assuredly soon make him fast in your basket if 

 you treat him as he should be treated. I take, then, 

 my type of a day on which, as a general rule, it is 

 superior to any other legitimate fishing you could 

 adopt, to be a hot bright day in June, with a good 



