CHAPTER VIII. 



WHEN TO GO FISHING. 



HAVING explained the apparatus necessary for catch- 

 ing trout, the next part of my subject appears to be 

 the time when to go fishing, and one important point 

 is the weather. Notwithstanding what some writers 

 have said about catching trout in an east wind, I do 

 not believe in it. With a wind from the South, 

 West, or South-west, and a dull or showery day, one 

 may fairly expect success ; but to go out on a bright 

 clear day, with wind from the North or East, is, in 

 my opinion, neither pleasant nor profitable. I have 

 done it many times when I had less experience, 

 though not more enthusiasm, than at present, but I 

 seldom do it now. An old song says : 



" A Southerly wind and a cloudy sky 

 Proclaim a hunting morning ; " 



and they also tell the fly-fisher when to be off to the 

 river. I should not be doing justice to this part of 

 my subject if I were not to allude to the fly-fisher's 

 carnival, the May-fly season. From about the last week 

 in May till the middle of June is the time above all 

 others to catch trout. I have frequently caught five 

 or six brace in a couple of hours during this short 

 season ; but as soon as it is over I put away the rod 

 for a few days, for, the fish being fairly glutted with 

 the natural fly, do not care much for the artificial 



