ROOK TROUT 



on the stream, or it may be, and doubtless is, that as 

 the shadows fall their sense of security increases. It is 

 at this hour that insect life is most abundant, partic- 

 ularly the moths and mosquitoes, and trout will often 

 be found jumping for the latter and puzzling the an- 

 gler, who is at a loss to account for the feeding fish 

 ignoring his feathers. This is easily explained. The 

 trout are busy feeding on tiny "skeets," and nothing 

 but a gray-midge fly tied on No. 18 or 20 hooks will 

 lure them. We have taken trout with such flies up 

 to midnight on both dark and moonlight nights. 



The accepted rule that a white miller or other very 

 light-colored flies are the only ones that will attract a 

 trout as the night falls is subject to modification, for 

 this fish is excessively fond of crickets and grasshop- 

 pers and lie, perdue, at night along the banks of the 

 stream, where bushes grow thickly close to the water, 

 to feed upon these creatures. Hence when fishing in 

 the evening it would be well for the rodster to vary 

 the dressing of his flies to that of the black hackle or 

 dark Alexandria. We have taken trout of large sizes 

 and in quantities at the foot of a dam where the water 

 was falling and churning into foam by casting a black 

 fly upon the white area. 



All of us have seen trout, particularly as the dusk 

 grows, leaping into the air and apparently frolicking, 

 for no lure will entice them. Doubtless, this fish, as 

 black-bass and sometimes yellow-perch certainly do, 

 indulge in such antics from causes unknown to us. 

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