STREAM-FISHING 97 



be something else. His knowledge is direct; is not 

 based on observation and reflection. If his eye does 

 not inform him, his reason can not. The trout is not 

 the sharp, observant, acutely reasoning fish he is popu- 

 larly supposed to be. He does not habitually discuss 

 with himself the nature of the lure and refuse it when, 

 after a long and complex process of thought, he has 

 decided what it is not ; what it is must remain for ever 

 beyond his ken. 



Yet, if we may believe what is written of him, he 

 possesses an intellect similar to and rivalling that of 

 man himself A recent writer on angling tells us that, 

 with a particular fly, he on one occasion succeeded in 

 taking trout that had for long withstood the seductions 

 of all other lures, and in explanation of his success he 

 maintains that though the fly — a Sand Fly — was not in 

 season, the fish knew that it was due and were awaiting 

 it. He demands too much of our credulity. The trout 

 may welcome a fly when it arrives, but that they are 

 aware of the date on which it may be expected to 

 appear, and look forward with pleasure to its coming, 

 is beyond belief. 



It is equally difficult to accept the assertion we owe 

 to another writer, that the trout knows when he is being 

 fished for. If he is so phenomenally astute as to be 



