344 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 
able to account for. That all the inhabitants of a portion 
of a stream should desist to feed instantaneously, when a 
few minutes previously they have been seizing with avidity 
your flies, is the subject on which I should like to hear 
the opinion of some competent authority. I remember 
asking an old hand, whose success in his neighborhood 
was a household world, and his response was that a sudden 
change in the atmosphere caused it. This answer some- 
what astonished me, nor could I reconcile myself to the 
idea that fish which, in the majority of instances, lie some 
distance beneath the surface of the water, should be cogni- 
zant of an alteration which is imperceptible to us. 
From continued want of success, I changed my position, 
and removed to a hole some way farther down. After 
much difficulty, from the quantity of brush that grew on 
the margin of the stream, and carrying a rod among such 
obstacles, I reached the water. The appearance of the 
pool much pleased me, but it was difficult to fish, from the 
timber growing so close to the water, and wading being al- 
most out of the question, from the rough and irregular bot- 
tom being thickly packed with large boulders. Obliged to 
make a virtue of necessity, with a short line, and a quick, 
contracted cast, I commenced operations. My companion 
informed me that he very much doubted if a line had been 
wet there that season; from the result, I think his state- 
ment- must have been correct. Scarcely had my flies 
touched the water, when two beauties, radiant in their 
handsome golden hues, simultaneously dashed at the de- 
ception ; one I hooked firm and strong, and soon brought 
to net: a dozen times did I go through the same perform- 
ance, only varied by occasionally hooking a brace at the 
same cast. I feared, with such incessant work, my perfect 
little rod would get strained, but I was disinclined to give: 
up. Having once filled my large basket, and being in a 
