THE TEMPERATURE 73 



it was when the " snow-brew " floods were 

 out ; but that does not matter. The trout 

 will come at the flies. Even if the temper- 

 ature is such that your fingers and feet are 

 numb, during the first few weeks of the 

 season, when the weather seems to be free 

 from those thundery and other obscure 

 conditions which are a misfortune to the 

 sportsman later in the year, the fish rise 

 well any day and all day. While the 

 water itself is of normal temperature, the 

 temperature of the air is unimportant. 

 The readiness of the trout to rise is not 

 stopped even by a shower of snow. 



Very soon, however, there is cause for 

 astonishment. On a running water the 

 sport of one day is pretty much like that 

 of the day before, with the difference that 

 it is sometimes arrested by conditions 

 which, for our present purpose, we will 

 assume to have little direct relation with 

 the temperature, and that its quality in- 

 creases as the fish gain in strength and 

 agility ; but what has come over the lake? 

 Only last week, let us say, this drift by 



