126 MAKING A FISHERY. 



their argument went no further than to allege 

 that trout bred artificially and fed in captivity- 

 did not, when left to shift for themselves, take 

 to fly or surface food, it might, although con- 

 trary to the experience of pisciculturists, have 

 some weight. When, however, on this frail 

 foundation they try to build up so colossal a 

 superstructure as the statement that the trout 

 already in the river — born and bred there and 

 used to find their own food — in some way catch 

 the complaint and cease to feed on insects, the 

 very extravagance of their assertion proves the 

 weakness of their case. 



It is said that this stocking, or, as some say, 

 overstocking, with tame fish is producing an 

 artificial state of things, but it is too late to 

 advance this argument. The necessity for such 

 stocking is brought about by an even more 

 artificial state of things — viz., that of having 

 thousands of anglers frequenting waters that are 

 not fairly capable of accommodating a tithe of 

 their number, and still further aggravated by the 

 spread of dry fly, by which every rising fish on 

 every day in the season is more or less educated 

 by the sight of artificial flies floating over him. 

 It might be urged that this education is of itself 

 a partial remedy to the over-fishing from the 

 fact of its decreasing the number of fish killed. 

 However, modern improvements in artificial flies 



