AUGUST. 79 



give good sport ; but, as the vital heat of the sun keeps 

 increasing so do the flies ; and after the fish are fatted 

 with the stone fly, green drake, etc., the sport lan- 

 guishes ; and July and August, the two centre months, 

 and most salubrious of the season, are generally con- 

 sidered the worst for flyfishing ; the variety of food 

 and easy circumstances of the fish, lessen the chance 

 of success, and require the flyfisher to be more particu- 

 lar and nearer the mark, than in the spring. Good 

 imitations of the favorite flies, fished naturally, at their 

 time of hatching, can only keep pace with the choice 

 of the fish ; and on healthsome cool breezy days, which 

 whet up their appetites, the flyfisher may have good 

 sport. 



AUGUST. 



THE lofty swift prunes her wing for departure, first in- 

 dex to a change. No longer do sportive swarms of 

 flies feed her in her airy tracks. Numbers of tiny 

 tribes now end their summer trip ; and less and 

 less are the numbers that succeed ; but still the waters, 

 the storehouses of the angler, pour forth daily supplies. 

 " All 7 s fish that comes to the net." Trout, grayling, 

 and smelt ! how beautiful to the flyfisher, as he dishes 

 them from his pannier. The full-ripe trout feeds 

 secure at the bottom, or with majestic caution rises 



