168 ANGLING. 



water by a delicate blue dun. The February-red, the cow> 

 dung, and the brown dun and the March brown, are a good 

 selection for troutie's bill of fare in the merry month of 

 March. Remember, jack are spawning ; perch and grayling 

 are heavy with spawn, and should not be taken even where 

 the law does not interfere to prevent it. 



APRIL. Trout-fishing commences in the Thames, and 

 salmon-fishing is in its zenith. The artificial flies must 

 now decrease somewhat in size, as the waters are become 

 clearer. The trout will take a small dace in the larger 

 streams,"and the minnow, and even a fine scoured lobworm, 

 has an attraction for them, and the salmon will not refuse 

 the latter. In addition to the flies mentioned in the chapter 

 for trout-fishing, try the yellow dun on bright days. The 

 hawthorn is not to be despised. As the month passes on, 

 the iron-blue and other flies of that class will be found 

 taking. It is thought that the larger Thames trout are too 

 voracious to be in good condition until May. If the spring 

 is a forward one, carp and tench may be taken : jack, 

 grayling, and perch are spawning. Spring is now coming 

 on apace ; the hedges are green, and the sides of the streams 

 are redolent with life. 



MAY. Every north stream is now open, and the fly- 

 fisher is in his glory. The bottom-fisher, however, finds his 

 eccupation gone. Barbel, carp, tench, bream, chub, roach, 

 and gudgeon, are spawning. Eels run well, but setting a 

 night-line hardly becomes an angler, though it is the only 

 engine that can be depended on for capturing them. After 

 rain, when the water in the river runs high or is coloured, 

 perhaps the spinning-minnow will afford the best bait for 

 trout. In clearer waters, in rivers where the stone-fly 

 abound, its larvae, or "creepers," form a most seductive 



