PART II 



THE SENSE OF TASTE 



That trout have some sense of taste can, I think, hardly 

 be doubted. The excitement with which they come on to 

 a rise of iron-blues must indicate that the fly or nymph 

 gives them some special satisfaction. Their greedy devo- 

 tion to the black gnat, too, and, on occasion, the eagerness 

 with which they take willow fly and alder are evidence of 

 the same kind. They take the artificial fly as food, but are 

 extremely quick to reject it from their mouths, and that is 

 why quick striking is necessary. Probably they have more 

 sense of taste than have chub. I recall casting an artificial 

 Alder to a chub which lay in a still little pool among lily pads. 

 As the fly lit the fish turned and lay at right angles to its 

 former position. I did not strike, as I thought the fish had 

 missed the fly, but I waited some couple of minutes to let 

 the fly and gut sink well below the fish before I attempted 

 to retrieve my cast. But when I did so I found to my 

 astonishment that the fish was hooked. It must have 

 sucked in the fly as it turned, and the fly must have been 

 in its mouth a couple of minutes before my attempt to 

 retrieve it pulled in the barb. If the fish had any ap- 

 preciable sense of taste it would have ejected the bunch of 

 feather and herl immediately. A trout would certainly 

 have done so. 



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