STREAM-FISHING 109 



making, and the instinctive knowledge with which he 

 is equipped at birth does not include a knowledge of the 

 habits of the trout ; that, he acquires in later life by 

 earnest study of the object of his quest. He must not, 

 therefore, approach the stream under the erroneous im- 

 pression that nature has furnished him with an innate 

 fount of information which raises him above the neces- 

 sity for thought and renders superfluous the exercise 

 of reason. The truths on familiarity with which he 

 builds his hope of success are not of the variety we 

 call self-evident and which we apprehend by immediate 

 perception. They are not to be known by intuition. 



When fishing a stretch of water flowing sluggishly 

 over a bottom bare of cover, the angler should confine 

 his attention to the neighbourhood of the banks. Ex- 

 cept in the evening, or when the trout are obviously 

 abroad in search of food, the centre of the stream will 

 prove quite unproductive. Even when its surface is 

 fretted by the wind he may, without loss, pass it untried. 



At the beginning of the season the trout are still in 

 occupation of the pools. They do not emerge from 

 their retirement until the restoration of the vigour 

 sacrificed to the maintenance of the race, or lost during 

 the enforced abstinence of winter enables them to with- 

 stand the streams. Before the end of April, however, 



