Little Talks About Fly-Fishing. 
Editor Forest </nd Stream: 
The vision of the trout is incredibly sensitive to motion 
and to colors, but not to distinctions of form. 
As to their sensitiveness to motion, it may be safely 
said that a company of soldiers standing motionless on 
the bank of a trout brook would not frighten the trout 
in it so much as the moving shadow of one of them 
j across the water. 
I Their sensitiveness to colors is seen every week at the 
ponds where trout are domesticated, specially when their 
keeper changes a dark coat for a light one, or leaves it 
off altogether. The appearance of the unaccustomed 
light coat or white shirt will often frighten well-tamed 
,, trout into a panic.—From "Domesticated Trout,” by 
Livingston Stone. 
ti Mr. Stone’s experience was far greater than 
i any angler would be likely to enjoy. He was a 
ji successful breeder of trout for years and speaks 
v with authority, yet we find men who believe that 
trout are color blind. I think it was Sir Herbert 
’ Maxwell who first gave this theory to the angling 
f world. How any one who has had any consider- 
1 able experience as a fly-fisherman can hold such 
1 an opinion is a puzzle to me. No round-eyed 
creature can have the clear impressions of form 
that the human animal enjoys, but again and 
again we have seen that fish are able to distin¬ 
guish colors, one from another, or even different 
shades of the same color. For instance, if trout 
are taking a pale yellow natural fly steadily they 
may reject a darker yellow artificial, yet accepr 
a better imitation in color, although only a hackle 
without wings. 
Probably the most important lesson we learn 
in trouting is to keep out of sight. We cannot 
1 cast a fly without motion and even a shadow will 
j alarm a trout. Wc soon learn how important it 
i is to have the sun shining in our faces and not 
comfortably warming our backs. If obliged to 
: fish in sight of the trout a good background is 
[ a help. Keep the rod low down with the side 01 
i underhand cast. With the rays of the sun strik- 
j ing the water obliquely at certain hours in the 
morning and afternoon, we can, if facing it, 
i stand within easy casting distance of a school of 
i trout and present . our flies without alarming 
them. The fish may be lying in shallow water,' 
but we cannot see them nor can they see us. 
Under other conditions, or with the sun in oui 
rear, they would take fright before we arrived 
within range. 
It is delightful to find a stream which has long 
reaches of good water, well shaded by trees or 
high banks quite early in the afternoon. Spoit 
may be had in such places when we could do 
nothing in the open until the evening hour. It is 
only in early spring, when the water is very 
cold, that bright sunshine is an advantage. 1 hen 
a little heat will bring out the flies and make the 
trout more active. There are days when the sky 
is overcast that are apt to bring disappointment 
to the angler. The light is gray and hard and 
the atmosphere depressing. We cannot say just 
what is wrong, but we feel that the conditions 
are against us. Usually it is flat calm. If the 
wind is blowing we are soon driven off the watei 
by stormy weather. This is much the best, as a 
change is desirable, and it is a waste of time to 
fish. However, we all know how hard it is to 
leave the stream no matter how bad the weather. 
We are always hoping for a change and hate to 
acknowledge that we are beaten; in fact, we 
work much harder when conditions are adverse 
than when they are favorable. 
To thoroughly enjoy our surroundings we 
should have a little success early in the day, as, 
after a few trout have been stowed away in the 
creel, the strong desire to take fish is appeased. 
Now we are at peace with all the world and can 
wander on amicably, and at our ease, in full en¬ 
joyment of all the beauties of earth and sky. It 
is not human to be quite happy with an empty 
basket. I remember a trying afternoon when the 
sawdust was running and the lonely stream 
seemed barren of fish. Not a rise was to be seen. 
At last a large trout, as I thought, moved at the 
fly but did not touch it. How I labored over that 
fish. I changed the fly again and again, and 
rested the pool several limes, but all efforts were 
in vain and I turned wearily tow'ard home. Just 
then two minnow fishers appeared, and I sat 
down for a few minutes to rest and to see if 
one of them would succe.ed where I had failed. 
Sure enough, the minnow scored, and I confess 
that when I saw that bending rod I felt a little 
envious. I walked back to view a noble trout and 
arrived just in time to see a big chub taken from 
the landing net. I had spent at least an hour in 
trying to catch a chub, but I tramped away a 
o-ood deal comforted that I had not killed a fish. 
The light changes from day to day, atmos¬ 
pheric conditions are rarely the same, even on 
consecutive days, and these changes have much 
influence upon our sport. Ihe effect is apparent 
to our own eyes, as, in certain lights our arti¬ 
ficial flies are not at all lifelike, or natural look¬ 
ing when on the water. At one time a fine leader 
is invisible or almost so; at another it shows up 
like a cod line. We fish with little confidence 
unless things look right to us. Most men who 
fish after dusk in the evening prefer dark nights, 
and from my own somewhat limited experience, 
I should say that bright moonlight is unfavorable 
to sport. If out on a bright night I always face 
the moon and fish into the deep shadows. On 
the darkest nights trout appear to see objects on 
the surface quite distinctly. Whether they can 
distinguish colors, one from another, I do not 
know. The author of “The Angler and the Loop 
Rod,” who fished through the long summer 
nights on the Clyde and Tweed for a livelihood, 
claimed that they can do so. This man used 
nine flies in day and six flies in night angling, 
and he states that sometimes his entire catch of 
twenty to thirty pounds of trout would be killed 
on one particular fly. the other patterns on the 
long leader failing of attraction. One can get 
quite close to his fish at night without being 
seen, and they seem to be unsuspicious. If much 
disturbed, however, they will soon become wary 
of the artificial fly. 
I doubt if it is sportsmanlike to fish at night, 
although I admit the temptation when the water 
is low and large trout are known to be about. 
There is something fascinating about the busi¬ 
ness, and I love to be in or near the stream on 
a fine summer’s night. The air should be warm 
and quiet, little or no breeze, with lots of in¬ 
sects in the air and on the water. A little cold 
wind will often stop the rise at once, yet I have 
known trout to rise well on a chilly evening. It 
is difficult to measure distances accurately at 
night and one is apt to find that he is casting a 
longer line than is necessary or advisable. We 
may be forcibly reminded of this by hooking the 
tail-fly in the brush overhanging the further 
bank. A smash at such a time is irritating as we 
have a poor light for making repairs. 
One evening I was casting in a pool that was 
full of roots, driftwood and stumps, and quite 
expected to be hung up. After a time my fly was 
arrested and I was sure that I had a root. I 
pulled gently, first one way and then the other, 
finally harder, straight up. Then the head of a 
big trout appeared, his mouth opened and the 
fly flew up in the air, there was a great splash 
upon the surface and I was left lamenting. How 
silly one feels after such a performance. This 
trout had annexed the fly quietly and settled 
back under a stump. A big fish may just suck 
the fly in and even when hooked may scarcely 
feel the barb in his tough old jaws. He lies there 
and is only passively resistant. It is easy to mis¬ 
take this dead pull for something inanimate 
until the trout become alarmed and starts on a 
grand rush for freedom. I remember standing 
at the top of a pool with my rod bent in a half 
circle for what seemed a long time; then a great 
trout threw itself into the air and ran down 
stream over a low fall into the wide water below. 
Occasionally brown trout of unusual size will 
sulk, and much patience, coolness and skill are 
required to land them on light fly tackle. Un • 
fortunately these big fish are not so numerous 
as they were eight or ten years ago. At one 
time there were a few of them in nearly all the 
pools large enough to afford them shelter and a 
good hiding place. A Salrno fario of the yellow 
varietv is a lovely fish, but some of the old trout 
become almost black from long hiding under 
rocks, etc. One of the most perfect fish I have 
seen in several years was a yellow lady weighing 
a little over four pounds. She must have lived 
much in a pool that was exposed to the sun, as 
she was very light in color. The under parts 
were golden yellow, the pink spots exceedingly 
bright. To perpetrate something of a bull—I 
wish that all brown trout were yellow trout. 
Anglers who are not familiar with these brightly 
colored fish have no idea how beautiful the 
Salrno fario is under favoring conditions. 
It makes a man feel dismal to see the destruc 
tion of such timber as remains in this part of 
the country. Saw mills, pulp mills and acid fac¬ 
tories are at work on or near every stream in 
whose neighborhood any trees worth cutting are 
to be found. When the sheltering woodlands 
have vanished from the hillsides and valleys We 
can only look forward to longer drouths at one 
season and heavier floods at another. 
Theodore Gordon. 
