Conditions which Govern Biting of Fish. 319 



it in some peculiar phase of the water, the wind, or the 

 weather. 



Now, while it is not wholly a matter of luck, on one 

 hand, and while, on the other, it is useless to expect to 

 obtain an invariable law in respect to the " biting " of fish, 

 there are many things that we can learn by intelligent ob- 

 servation. 



It involves no great comprehension of the sciences of 

 ichthyology, meteorology, hydrography, entomology and 

 botany, as professed by some, nor of the mysteries and 

 hocus-pocus of the art as practiced by others; for there 

 is often as little reason in the repeated change of a cast 

 of flies by the scientific fly-fisher, as in spitting on the bait 

 by his humbler brother; yet both have unbounded faith in 

 their respective methods, and probably faith has as much 

 to do with successful angling as any one attribute. 



But why do fish eagerly take the bait one day, and utterly 

 refuse it the next, when, apparently, all other conditions 

 are equal? This is a poser, and has baffled observant 

 anglers for ages, and will, in all probability, never be 

 solved satisfactorily. As a short cut to its solution, it 

 might be said that they were hungry one day, but not so 

 the next. Certainly a very reasonable conclusion if it were 

 sustained by fact, which it is not, if we judge hunger by 

 its usual manifestations; for fish seem to bite best on a 

 full stomach, and often refuse the proffered bait on an 

 empty one ; this fact is patent to all observant anglers, and 

 I have proved it in many instances. 



But let us begin at the beginning. 



The great problem of life with fishes seems to be to eat 

 and avoid being eaten. Very well. Now, which is the 

 controlling influence in a fish's mind — if he has any, per- 

 haps, in deference to authority, we had better call it in- 



