144 FROM THE FISHES' POINT OF VIEW. 



lest his neighbour gets there first. The second fish, 

 after his neighbour's removal, becomes much more 

 cautious, and will take ten times as much catching. 

 My brother has shown me big fish in their lairs on 

 several occasions, remarking that he had caught their 

 mates weeks or months before, but the one left had 

 developed into an artful old dodger, whereas before 

 the two used to rush out at the fly simultaneously. 

 His frequent remark is: 'Show me two fish and I will 

 catch one of them, but the survivor will take even a 

 live blue bottle by the wing and shake it to see if there 

 is a line attached.' Lastly, the reason for taking a fly 

 is hunger, though really I believe this is by far the 

 most frequent cause, as is shown by the systematic 

 way in which the rises of trout occur. 



It is not reasonable to suppose that curiosity, or in 

 fact anything but hunger, should strike trout at regular 

 periods just synchronizing with the rise of natural insects 

 morning and evening. Although the other passions 

 may be called into play, the main cause of the angler's 

 success must ever be hunger, and to achieve success 

 the angler must always aim at such an imitation as is 

 an exact counterpart of one fly, or else an artificial 

 which is so typical in form and colour that it may be 

 readily mistaken for at least "an insect;" in other 

 words it is an artist's interpretation of the general or 

 composite appearance of several insects, and if this is 

 studied from the fishes point of view, success will be 

 steady and not the spasmodic success which follows 

 more haphazard methods. 



