132 TROUT FISHING 



best lure for trout, if, indeed, it be not 

 the only one in which there is any 

 hope. All the poacher's flies have been 

 at least a foot below the surface ; yet 

 the trout have found them irresistible. 



That, however, is not the thought 

 which is at present relevant. I have 

 described the working of the otter in 

 order to show that the capture of its 

 own kind bears no warning to the trout. 

 All the two or three dozen fish have 

 impaled themselves on the same line. 



Those who have been in the habit of 

 assuming that trout acquire wariness may 

 endeavour to explain this away by saying 

 that the trout did not know the things 

 depending from the poacher's line to be 

 artificial flies. That would be to yield the 

 whole ground on which their assumption 

 rests. It is only on the assumption that 

 a trout often knows an artificial fly when 

 he sees it that wariness in relation to 

 artificial flies can be attributed to the fish. 

 If the fish lack this knowledge, as the 

 success of the otter joins with the ex- 



