TROUTING FOR TOURISTS. 
161 
we have attained the acme of mundane bliss, and 
to wonder if anything better remains to be found 
We were young then. In later years, as experience 
broadens, the ecstatic mood is apt proportionately to pale. 
That is, perhaps, inevitable ; for not even the angler 
has yet discovered the ingredients of perennial youth. 
To sum up:—The first consideration is the season, 
which is always later than at home. May is useless; 
and in the high-lying regions (through which the 
tourist routes mostly lead), the trout have not regained 
condition till quite the end of June. July is the 
best month, with August in a rainy season. In average 
years, the waters are apt to run fine during the latter 
month, and by mid September, the trout are all going 
back, and some almost ready to spawn. 
Next as to locality :—I hope I have made it clear 
that good trout-fishing is not as a rule to be found 
within half an hour’s walk of tourist-station or hotel. 
What constitutes good trouting is perhaps a matter 
of opinion. Those who are content to cram, say, eight 
or nine dozens of troutlets into a 10 lb. creel, will 
hardly get wrong anywhere in Norway ; but to that, 
the epithet would not apply. Norway is not “played 
out”—as one often reads—and never will be. There 
is abundance of trouting-water, good, bad, and in¬ 
different ; it is not really difficult of access, but the 
best is not, as a rule, right before the tourist’s nose. 
One constantly reads in the sporting papers, this 
question :—“ Where can I get good trout-fishing, free ? ” 
I have endeavoured to answer it—though in general 
terms—in the foregoing chapter. If the querist expects 
more, verily he will be disappointed. 
M 
