grasshopper was to be seen somewhere 
in the pool, and I commenced by casting 
over the nearest fish. 
During my short stay of about 20 min- 
utes I caught 9 fish and never moved 
very far from my original position. 
Neither of the men on the other side 
caught a single fish while I was there. 
One of them, with whom I am well ac- 
quainted, has the reputation of being 
a good fisherman with the natural in- 
sect, but although the fish were feeding 
in earnest they would not look at the 
baited hook, for the reason that it is 
impossible to impart a natural appear- 
ance to a grasshopper that has a hook 
stuck through its vitals. 
On the other hand I was catching fish 
about as fast as I have ever done and 
when I did stop fishing it was not be- 
cause I couldn’t catch any more, but be- 
cause I had caught the limit. 
Unfortunately the really decent sized 
fish, that this place is reputed to hold, 
were not feeding. Usually they feed 
close to the overhanging bank, but the 
presence of the two men on that side, 
and their motions when they slung out 
their hooks were responsible for the ex- 
tra caution of the large trout. 
W HILE I was fishing in this pool I 
happened to notice one fish that 
rose twice at a floating grass- 
hopper without taking it, but the third 
time he rose he took the ’hopper. This 
unpleasant habit is formed by the con- 
stant pricking they get when taking 
grasshoppers that are on hooks. 
They see a grasshopper and rise at 
it, but purposely refrain from taking it; 
if the grasshopper is jerked away, they 
know from past experience that is dan- 
gerous, but if the grasshopper keeps on 
floating unconscious of any disturbance 
in its immediate vicinity, the fish rises 
again and takes the insect. 
In 1917 I noticed trout which made 
one fake rise before taking the grass- 
hopper, but I had never seen a fish de- 
liberately make two fake rises before 
he took the fly. 
I cast my fly over this particular 
fish, and kept my eyes glued to the 
fly, disregarding anything else. The 
fish rose twice within an inch or two 
of my fly, and the third time he rose, 
the fly vanished. I struck and eventu- 
ally landed the fish. There is not 
much doubt but that the fish make 
these false rises deliberately, as a 
means of protection. It is ridiculous to 
suppose for one minute that a trout 
would miss a grasshopper that is float- 
ing on the surface of a slow-flowing 
stream, when the same fish is able to 
take, without trouble, insects which are 
hurried past in swift water, unless in 
the former case the fish acts with 
malice aforethought. 
It is a very annoying habit for the 
fish to get into, because one naturally 
strikes when one sees the surface-dis- 
turbing rise of a trout, seemingly, right 
on top of one’s fly; but should it happen 
to be a fake rise, then the fish becomes 
frightened at seeing the fly pulled 
away, and he ceases to feed and possi- 
bly communicates his fears to other 
fish in the vicinity, by his actions. 
O N another day I was fishing a 
small side stream and having just 
landed a good fish I was walking 
up stream round a bend in the creek to 
another likely spot. 
The part that I was passing along 
as not being considered worth fishing 
has a broad shallow without the faintest 
sign of any hiding places for fish, and 
the stream furthermore was excep- 
tionally low with a barely perceptible 
current. It was the sort of place that 
ordinarily no one would give a second 
glance at, with the expectation of get- 
ting any fish. I was walking along 
the edge of a bank about 3 feet high, 
and was drying my fly which had been 
thoroughly saturated during its con- 
<57 
nection with the recently caught trout. 
A short distance along this bend there 
was a slight contraction of the channel 
which caused the current to speed up 
sufficiently to cause a gentle ripple. 
In order to test the dryness of my fly 
I cast it at the top of this little ripple 
and was watching it come dancing 
down the little waves, when I noticed a 
good sized fish coming down stream 
towards the ripple. The fish was trav- 
elling at a great pace and I naturally 
supposed that my presence on the edge 
of the overhanging bank, with the sun 
at my back, had frightened the fish 
and that it was headed for the deeper 
water below where I was at that time, 
and from which I had just taken a fish. 
But, no, the trout had other inten- 
tions; he did not intend to climb out 
on the bank and make faces at me, al- 
though if he had done so, it would 
hardly have surprised me more than 
what actually happened. The fish 
which had been out in the shallow 
water feeding on grasshoppers had evi- 
dently seen my fly fall on the surface. 
Keeping his vision focussed on it, to 
the exclusion of everything else, he 
came down stream through the ripple, 
turned around at the bottom and took 
my fly as it passed over him. 
The whole performance was in full 
view and the actual taking of the fly 
could not have been more than 18 feet 
away from where I was standing. I 
(continued on page 92 ) 
