GENERAL DESCRIPTION 



garded, though the instinct of pursuit being dominant, 

 some trout are taken with flies. For the same reason, 

 salmon roe is the preferred bait on the Pacific coast, 

 comprising as it does the principal food of the river 

 trout during the spawning season of the half-dozen 

 kinds of salmon which frequent them. In semi-arid 

 foot-hills of the Rocky Mountain chain, grasshoppers 

 are the choice. In New England wasp-grubs and lob- 

 worms are favorites. In Maine lakes the smelt is a 

 dainty bait. In Pennsylvania " curly jukes," or water- 

 shrimps, are attractive. On the Jordan, in Michigan, 

 a bug contrived of a lump of squirrel meat with trout 

 fins for wings made an effective lure in lumber days a 

 quarter of a century ago. At other times and places 

 cut bait, trout eyes and fins, pennyroyal buds, and bits 

 of red flannel will catch fish. All the same, artificial 

 flies are killing wherever one goes, and will move a 

 trout at one time if not at another ; so that it is beg- 

 ging the question to say that in such and such waters 

 they will not rise to the fly. Early morning and even- 

 ing is the best time to make the test. The best lure at 

 all times is what they seem to be feeding on, or are accus- 

 tomed to feed upon. This is an axiom. In forest pre- 

 cincts flies are naturally the most attractive in summer. 



Why Trout Chase Flies. 



The instinct of quest, therefore, prompts the trout 

 to pursue and seize all objects moving in his native 

 element which attract his attention. Nothing comes 



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