X 
Artuur.—On the Brown Trout introduced inio Otago. 497 
one o'clock the trout would not look at minnow, but I killed a large fish, 
43 lbs., with fly, and also some smaller ones. I remember, subsequently, in 
the Deep Stream, above the Strath crossing, plenty of water and a north- 
west gale blowing, fishing two days, or rather, parts of two days. On both 
days I used exactly the same fly, cast with three flies on. The stretcher 
had on it a creeper, first dropper, which was black hackle, a gentle, and top 
dropper bare. The one day I killed seven trout, all with the hackle and 
gentle, and but one, a 21b. fish, which was on the creeper. The other day 
I got five trout, every one on the creeper, and which weighed nearly 15 lbs. 
gross, the water being rather clearer. 
The alteration in the time of daily feeding, from that observed at Home 
among the trout is puzzling, and angling alone may not disclose all the 
facts. Still, a very superficial observer of nature must admit that as yet 
our streams possess a much greater food-supply, and more variety in it, 
than the streams of the Old Country do. The more open winters we 
experience will likewise permit a certain amount of insect life to come 
within reach of feeding trout, and so prevent these getting much reduced in 
condition. These two circumstances are sufficient to show, that, possess- 
ing more available food than their ancestral stock, our trout do not require 
to be so constantly feeding, and when so engaged have the extra temptation 
of variety, to make them as capricious as we find them. So, therefore, they 
choose their own time for satisfying their hunger, and select different food 
at short intervals. But why mid-day should be preferred by them as their 
banqueting hour is not so readily explained as their not feeding in early 
morning or in the evening, which I have proved to be mainly owing to the 
coldness of the air at these times. It is probable, however, that as most 
insect life will be on the water during the warmest part of the day, it is then, 
of course, that feeding trout show most on the surface, while at other times 
they may be busy grubbing on the bottom for larve and shellfish, in the 
absence of the more dainty surface diet. That the air immediately in con- 
tact with the stream must have had a certain quantity of heat and light 
imparted to it from the morning sun before trout will rise, I have seen 
attested, by the trout beginning to take hours sooner on an open part of the 
river than they did on a portion shut in by rocky gorges from the sun’s rays. 
Repeated examples of this have convinced me of the fact. These remarks 
must be understood to apply to ordinary states of most of our rivers. When 
in flood, our trout do not take readily, nor, indeed, till the river has fallen 
to a certain state. It is very likely at such times the fish are partly driven 
from their haunts by the strength of the stream, and partly, are feeding on 
the bottom on insect larve, which the disturbance of the gravel there has 
“revealed to their keen eyesight. 
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