BROOK TROUT. 
81 
in the rest of the time in utilizing what they have acquired. Changes of temperature and baro- 
metric pressure and other meteorological conditions are also assignable explanations and there 
may be more truth than poetry in the old rhyme relating to the direction of the winds. 
Illustrative of the foregoing, an incident related by E. D. T. Chambers is of interest: “Ob- 
servations convinced me long ago, and subsequent experience has justified the conviction, that 
there are times when trout, no matter how plentiful they may be, will not take a line at all, 
being entirely off their feed. A case in point occurred to me only a few weeks ago. At the 
mouth of a large lake where I was fishing is a disused dam. In the outlet immediately below 
it is a clear pool containing hundreds of brook trout of various sizes, from three-quarters of a 
pound down to fingerlings. The pool is too far from civilization to be much fished. Not half 
a dozen people visit it in the course of the year. I fished it three evenings in succession. On 
both the first and the third evenings I had wonderful sport. No matter what fly was offered, 
the fish took it freely, and after returning to the water nearly two dozen small trout on each 
occasion, I took back to camp, for supper and breakfast, over a dozen good fish. The water 
was so clear on both occasions that the fish could always be seen rising to the fly. Nor were 
they at all shy, but would rise almost at my very feet. On the second evening there were appar- 
ently as many fish in the pool as on both the prece.ding and succeeding evenings. The weather 
was apparently as favorable for fishing as on either of the other two nights. The fish were 
wonderfully active, but apparently in no way frightened. They were simply playful, s^vimming 
gayly about the pool, rising to the surface and then descending, without apparently sucking 
in any surface food, but just stirring a ripple upon the water. Never a fly would they take, 
however. I changed the cast nearly a dozen times, but all to no avail. Generally they took 
no notice of the flies at all. I tried bait, but it was of no avail. One little fellow, which was 
returned to the water, took it and that was all. It was impossible to account for such a failure. 
The fish were there, but apparently they were not hungry and would not feed. I took no more 
precautions in approaching the pool upon the two nights when I was so successful than I did 
upon the blank evening. Had the fish appeared frightened, I should have come to the conclu- 
sion at once that the pool had been recently disturbed by some trout-eating animal or bird; but 
on the contrary the fish appeared perfectly at their ease. It was a puzzle that must remain so, 
I suppose, but it is by no means the first one of its kind that has occurred to me. Very often 
the fish would rise all around the flies without touching them.” 
After commenting on Mr. Chambers’ experience as one of common occurrence amongst 
anglers, Mr. E. A. Samuels wrote: “All of us have had blank days in trout fishing for which we 
could not account, for all proper conditions, such as light, breeze, ripple, etc., were present; we 
knew the trout were there, and in goodly numbers, too; they simply would not rise. 
“I have let my boat quietly drift over the pool on such an occasion, and, peering down into 
the water, have discovered the fish lying closely together at the bottom, almost without moving 
