"TIME OF THE TAKE/' 117 



be found most effective ; but if the waters are small, 

 a size or two less will be advisable. 



At this season a warm sunny day is most favour- 

 able to the angler. The birth of flies depends in a 

 great measure upon the state of the weather ; and 

 when there are no natural flies on the water trout 

 never rise freely at an artificial one. An east wind 

 or a cold frosty day is a death-blow to the angler's 

 hopes, as in such there are no flies to be seen, and 

 the trout retire to deep water. In this month we 

 have frequently seen, about eleven o'clock in the 

 forenoon, a perfect shower of March browns come 

 on the water, which for half-an-hour or so appeared 

 almost boiling with trout leaping ; and then the 

 flies went off and all was quiet again. Till the flies 

 appeared we met with no sport ; when they were on 

 the water we got a rise almost every cast, and when 

 they went away we hardly got another trout. 



This is what is popularly known as "the time 

 of the take," and occurs, more or less, at some time 

 of the day the whole season through. The leaping 

 of the trout in all directions at once informs the 

 angler when it commences, and he should make the 

 most of his time. It sometimes happens several 

 times during the day, but rarely lasts more than an 

 hour at a time, and stops as suddenly as it com- 

 mences. It is only during the take that a trout can 

 be caught in very deep water, as it is only then they 

 are hovering near the surface on the outlook for 

 flies. Once it is over they retire to the bottom and 



