The Troubles of Spring Trout Fishing 
When and Where to Angle for Trout in Early Spring 
T is only the experienced angler who 
] is really alive to the many varied 
difficulties we must meet and over- 
come at the opening of the trout sea- 
son. The over-ardent amateur, even 
the expert enthusiast, is apt to start 
off to. be on the water the first hour 
allowed by law—no matter if wind, 
snow, ice or a combina- 
tion of adverse condi- 
tions—they go. The 
experienced angler is 
different. He will pa- 
tiently await and wise- 
ly postpone his visit 
till he is assured the 
weather and water are 
favorable, fit for fish- 
ing in comfort, if not 
with success. Not, in- 
deed, is it because he 
is less ardent, or less 
sporty, or less a lover 
of the game; he is 
simply wise after 
many, many failures 
to wait and fish with 
reasonable _ pleasure 
and success. Spring 
is erratic, a delusion 
and a snare, yet it 
ought be fairly good— 
balmy air, normal 
water with insects on 
the wing and chances 
to get trout reasonably 
sure. Such favorable 
conditions happen once 
in ten years—at least 
so I found it for forty 
years. 
N my book, “Trout 
Stream Insects,” the 
dates are noted when 
insects first appear; 
also when trout begin 
to feed —first on the 
bottom after. creepers, 
in midwinter for 
By LOUIS RHEAD 
then that the water’s temperature will 
rapidly rise from ten to twenty degrees, 
according to the sun and absence of 
cold wind. When I see minnows, red- 
fins, dace and other young fishes mov- 
ing about at the riverside, I know trout 
will respond to the fly and other lures, 
although it is certain that trout have 

ruary. In a previous article it is 
stated that I found English nymphs 
were dressed too scant for success in 
our waters, and for that reason I de- 
veloped, after many tests, a nymph 
with a feathery bump, or semi-wing, 
and additional hackle which appears 
in the water like an adult insect with 
partly developed wings. 
These six different col- 
ored nymphs have 
proved very effective 
later in the season at 
the surface of clear 
water, where they float 
quite as good as the 
regular dryfly. 
Fok spring fishing 
with high but clear 
water, if you will sink 
to the bottom with the 
aid of split shot, either 
nymphs, caddis creep- 
er, trout helgramite, 
very small grasshopper 
or cricket, even a tiny 
crawfish, trout will be 
sure to take either one 
or the other. The size 
and number of split 
shot used is determined 
by the strength of 
water flow. The lure 
must touch the bottom 
and remain for a while, 
then be slowly lift- 
ed up to the surface 
and slowly dropped 
back to the river bed. 
If this is repeated, 
time and again, from 
place to place, if any 
trout are there they 
will surely take it, not 
only in running rivers, 
but in still-water lakes. 
I am aware it seems 
out of place to use 
crickets in April when 
nymphs and minnows, Fortunate indeed is the early spring angler who takes two fish on a cast the natural cricket 
at the surface for does not appear till 
insects. The main JULY. ee Gune cap ent 
trouble of early fishing arises from a 
single cause, which is, whether aquatic 
trout food is dormant or active. 
ALE aquatic creatures, including min- 
nows, stir up from the winter’s 
dormant state to become active on the 
very day that snow and ice has melted 
and the cold water has run off. It is 
Page 205 
been feeding on riverbed creepers in 
deep water where the temperature of 
the open air has less or no effect if very 
deep. 
During the last few years much at- 
tention and study has been given to 
creepers and nymphs on or near the 
bottom, more particularly in England, 
where the season opens early in Feb- 
trout with cricket and tiny grasshopper 
after vain effort with other lures on 
two occasions, one in still waters, the 
other sunk in deep river water. 
qe method of fishing bottom creep- 
ers is treated in another chapter. 
If the weather be cold and windy 
(Continued on page 240) 
