INTRODUCTORY. 17 



can see an amazing distance ; on a bright summer's day 

 he will scuttle off the shallows on the appearance of a 

 figure fifty yards away, and rushing headlong past a hundred 

 others, will give the signal and startle them all. Let it be 

 remembered too that owing to the natural laws of refraction 

 an angler is often visible upon the bank of a river long 

 before he has any knowledge that he is within the line of 

 sight of fish. It is a sound maxim therefore to keep as 

 low as possible, and to get behind your prey. 



On the great questions of fishing up, across, or down 

 stream it is useless to enter ; everything depends upon the 

 size of the river, the condition of the water, and the nature 

 of the bait. To fish up stream is an unnecessary labour in 

 a discoloured water, and to fish down stream in a clear 

 water is to court both disappointment and ridicule ; for, in 

 the latter case, except in a turbulent eddy or a broken 

 rapid, the angler will be perfectly visible to every fish for 

 many a yard below him. 



There are, however, certain facts too frequently over- 

 looked which it may be well to name, because on a know- 

 ledge and an observance of them, not a little of the angler's 

 success will always depend. In the early part of the 

 season the trout, in rivers such as we have in Yorkshire, 

 will be found in the dubs or flats, and, unless the winter 

 has been very mild, at the lower end of them ; in March 

 and April as the fish gain strength they are nearer to the 

 streams ; as April progresses and aquatic insects and flies 

 become more plentiful, and food more abundant, they 

 acquire greater strength and get gradually into the lower 

 parts of the stronger streams ; in May and June after feast- 

 ing on the stone-fly, they are almost anywhere in the river 

 except in the thins, in which latter you will find them in the 

 blazing weather of July and August.; whilst in the latter 

 part of August and September they are dropping down 



B 



