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i LIBRARY

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I CALIFORNIA

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FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

IN THE SAME SERIES

By W. earl HODGSON

TROUT FISHING

CONTAINING A MODEL BOOK OF FLIES IN

COLOUR, AND A REPRODUCTION IN C0LO¥R

FACSIMILE OF " BEOWM TKOUT " FROM

THE PICTURE BY H. L. ROLFE.

By W. earl HODGSON

SALMON FISHING

CONTAINING 8 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS
IN COLOUR, INCLUDING MODEL CASES OF
74 VARIETIES OF SALMON FLIES, AND A
REPRODUCTION OF MR. JOSEPH FARQJJHAR-
SOn's FAMOUS PICTURE " SALMON FISH-
DCS OH THE DEE," ALSO lO FULL-PAGE
REPRODUCTIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS.

AGENTS

America . The Macmillan Company

64 & 66 Fifth Avenue, New York

Canada . The Macmillan Company of Canada, Ltd.
27 Richmond Street West, Toronto

India . Macmillan & Company, Ltd.

Macmillan Building, Bo.mbay

309 Bow Bazaar Streut, Calcutta

A POOL ON THE TAY, DALGUISE

FISHERMEN'S
WEATHER

BY UPWARDS OF ONE HUNDRED
LIVING ANGLERS

EDITED BV

F. G. AFLALO, F.R.G.S., F.Z.S.

EDITOR OF ' THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SPORT '

MEMBER OF COUNCIL OF THK SALMON AND TROUT ASSOCIATION

UEMBER OF THE MARINE BIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION, ETC.

WITH EIGHT FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR FROM
PAINTINGS BY CHARLES WHVMPER, F.Z.S.

LONDON

ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK

1906

A II rights rtterved

" Ye schall angle as y seyde befor in darke lowryng
wedur when the wynde blowethe softely and yn somer
seasen when hyt ys brennyng hote."

Dame Juliana Berners.

" Le hazard n'aide que les esprits prepares." — Pasteur.

EDITOR'S PREFACE

Ix view of the meagre space allotted by
the majority of angling writers ^ to con-
siderations of wind and weather in their
bearing on sport, an attempt has been
made to obtain some expression of
opinion, based on long and varied ex-
perience, from rather more than a
hundred anglers of recognised qualifi-
cations for answering such an inquiry.

As the result of the uniform kindness
with which my questions were answered,
a mass of information, anecdote, and
opinion soon became available, and this is

^ Mr. W. Earl Hodgson's Trout Fishing and the second
edition of Mr. Rolfs book on the grayling are notable
exceptions to the general rule.
y

vi FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

presented in the following chapters with
some approach to logical order, a full
index at the end facilitating cross-refer-
ence, so that any one can ascertain at a
glance the most or least favourable
weather conditions for any given fish in
a number of well-known waters.

Throughout these pages the influence
of weather on fishing is discussed solely
in its relation to good or bad sport and
without regard to the personal comfort
of the sportsman. Of many such indirect
results, however, the fisherman will always
take account. He knows, for instance,
that a wet day may keep a holiday crowd
off* the river or even away from its banks,
and, being a selfish sportsman, he con-
gratulates himself on such compensation
for an otherwise uncomfortable day.
This volume, however, has no concern
with this aspect of the subject.

It is hoped that no one will suspect
those responsible for the evidence collected

PREFACE vii

in these pages of any inclination to dog-
matise, for they know far too much of
the uncertainties of fishing to make any
attempt at laying down the law as to
the effects of any atmospheric condi-
tion.

That our knowledge of this interesting
subject may " grow from more to more "
is both probable and desirable, yet, even
were infallible omniscience within our
grasp, we might be forgiven for declining
such a gift. On the day of perfect know-
ledge, when a glance at the aneroid
should tell the fisherman when it is
useless to leave his comfortable bed for
the dour river-side, such mechanical
prescience would rob the sport of half
its glamour.

All that has been attempted in these
pages is to collect a number of authentic
cases in which the contents of the basket
have apparently been determined to a
great extent by certain conditions of

viii FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

weather and temperature, together with
some general statements of the best and
worst wind and other conditions tradi-
tionally associated with a number of well-
known rivers and lochs. In most cases,
deduction has been left to the reader,
who is thus free to exercise his own
ingenuity in determining why, as the
Jamaica niggers say : *' Ebbry day good
for fishing, but not ebbry day good for
catch fish."

It remains only to thank those who
have so kindly supplied the information
asked for. Of its soundness, the names in
the following list are sufficient guarantee.

Reference Initials
used in the Text.

B. A.

R. B.
P. R. B.
H. B. B.

Beale Adams, Esq., R.B.A. .

Richard Bagot, Esq.

Lieut. -Col. P. R. Bairnsfather

Dr. H, Brereton Baker, F.R.S. .

The Rev. W. Barker, M.A. (Rector of St

Marylebone) W. B.

C. G. Barrington, Esq., C.B. . . C. G. B.

The late Canon St. Vincent Beechey . . St. V. B.

Dr. Joseph BeU, J.P., D.L J. B.

John Bickerdyke

A. W. Black, Esq., M.P A. W. B.

PREFACE

IX

Major C. P. Boulton, D.S.O.

The Rt. Hon. the Marquess of Breadalbane,

K.G

The late Lady Bridge ,

Dr. J. Franck Bright, D.D.

Colonel Archibald Broadfoot, C.B.

Sir Douglas Brooke, Bt.

The Rev. J. M. S. Brooke, M.A., F.R.G.S

(Rector of St. Mary, Woolnoth)
Sir George Thomas Brown, C.B. .
John Brown, Esq., F.R.S. .
H. A. Bryden, Esq.
Sir R. H. W. Bulkeley, Bt. .
Prof. F. C. Burkitt, M.A., F.B.A.
The Rt. Hon. Sydney Buxton, M.P.
Colonel R. T. Caldwell, J. P., D.L. (Master

of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge)
James Cantlie, Esq.
C. E. S. Chambers, Esq.
Basil Champneys, Esq. .
Dr. W. B. Cheadle
Dr. Charles Chree, F.R.S. .
The Hon. Gilbert J. Coleridge
Colonel C. G. CoUingwood, C.B. .
Henry Daniel Conner, Esq., K.C., J. P.
Maj.-Gen. Arthur Domville Corbet, C.B.
Sir W. O. Dalgleish, Bt.
Maj.-Gen. James Cecil Dalton, R.A.
Colonel Bryan G. Davies-Cooke .
The late Sir Chnton E. Dawkins, K.C.B
Prof. W. Boyd Dawkins, F.R.S. .
Colonel T. Deane, C.B. .
Lord Desborough ....
G. Ashley Dodd, Esq. .
Captain J. J. Dunne (" Hi Regan")
Captain W. Edgworth-Johnstone .
C. E. Munro Edwards, Esq. .
Sir John Edwards-Moss, Bt. .
Sir T. H. Grattan Esmonde, Bt., M.P.

Reference Initials
used in the Text.

. C. p. B.

B.

H. M. F. B.

J. F. B.

A. B.

D. B.

J. M. S. B.
G. T. B.

J. Br.
H. A. B.

R. H. W. B.

F. C. B.
S. B.

R. T. C.

J. C.

C. E. S. C.

B.C.

W. B. C.

C. C.

G. J. C.
C. G. C.
H. D. C.
A. D. C.
W. O. D.
J. C. D.

B. G. D.-C.
C. E. D.
W. B. D.

T. D.

D.

G. A. D.

J. J. D.

W. E.-J.

C. E. M. E.
J. E.-M.

T. H. G. E.

X FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

Reference Initials
used in the Text.

Major J. Wynn Eyton J. W. E.

Sir J. D. Ferguson-Davie, Bt. . . . J. D. F.-D.

The Rt. Hon. Sir James Fergusson, Bt. . J. F.

Godfrey Fetherstonhaugh, Esq., K.C. . . G. F.

The. Rev. Dr. Frederick Foakes -Jackson,

D.D. (Dean of Jesus College, Cambridge) F. F.-J.

William Warde Fowler, Esq., M.A. (Sub-
Rector of Lincoln CoUege, Oxford) . W. W. F.

Walter M. Gallichan, Esq W. M. G.

The Hon. A. E. Gathorne-Hardy, J. P., D.L. A. E. G.-H.

E. W. Gawthorne, Esq E. W. G.

Major H. C. Godley, D.S.O. . . . H. C. G.

Lt.-Colonel H. H. Godwin-Austeu, F.R.S. . H. H. G.-A.

T. W. Gomm, Esq T. W. G.

A. M, Sutherland Graeme, Esq. . . . A. M. S. G.

The Rt. Hon. the Marquess of Granby G.

Hubert HaU, Esq H. H.

J. J. Hardy, Esq. .
J. A. Harvie-Brown, Esq.
W. Earl Hodgson, Esq.
Miss Rotha HoUins
Horace Hutchinson, Esq.

J. J. H.

J. A. H.-B.

W. E. H.

R. H.

H. H.

Admiral Sir W. R. Kennedy, K.C.B. . . W. R. K.

Sir Roper Lethbridge, K.C. I.E., K.B. . . R. L.

ColonelCharlesM'lnroy, C.B., J.P., D.L. . C. M'L

Colonel E. D. Malcolm of PoltaUoch, C.B. . E. D. M.
R. B. ?tIarston, Esq. (Editor of the FishaKj

Gazette) R. B. M.

The Rev. W. A. Mathews, M.A. (Rector of

Bassingham) W. A. M.

A. R. Matthews, Esq. (Editor, The Anglers

^'ews) A. R. M.

The Rt. Hon. Sir Herbert E. Maxwell, Bt.,

F.R.S H. E. M.

Harold Michelmore, Esq H. M.

C. O. Miuchin, Esq C. O. M.

Lord Montagu of Beaulieu . . . M.

Sir Samuel Montagu, Bt, J.P., D.L. . S. M.

Colonel R. St. Leger Moore, C.B., J. P. . R. St. L. M.

PREFACE xi

Reference Initials
used in the Text.

J. Lloyd Morgan, Esq., M.P. . . . J. L. M.

Maj.-Gen. Sir Gerald de Courcy Morton,

K.C.I.E., C.B., C.V.O G. deC. M.

Dr. George Murray G. M.

Dr. William Murray W. M.

Robert Noble, Esq., R.S. A R. N.

The Rt. Hon. Sir Ford North, P.C., F.R.S. F. N.

Maj.-Gen. Desmond O'Callaghan, C.V.O. ,

R.A D. 0"C.

The Hon. F. Standish O'Grady . . F. S. O'G.

Sir Henry Pottinger, Bt H. P.

Sir Colman Battie Rashleigh, Bt. . . C. B. R.

H. A. Rolt, Esq H. A. R.

Maj.-Gen. J. C. Russell, C.V.O. . . J. C. R.

William RusseU, Esq W. R.

W. Dendy Sadler, Esq W. D. S.

William Senior, Esq. (Editor of The Field) . W. S.

Sir Henry Seton-Karr, C.M.G., J.P., D.L. . H. S.-K.

A. Marmaduke Sheild, Esq., F.R.C.S. . . A. M. S.

H. T. Sheringham, Esq. (Anghng Editor of

The Field) H. T. S.

J. E. Smart, Esq J. E. S.

Colonel A. J. Stead A. J. S.

The Rt. Hon. the Earl of Suffolk and Berk-
shire ....... S.

The Bishop Suffragan of Swansea . . Sw.

Maj.-Gen. Sir Alexander B. Tulloch, K.C.B. A. B. T.

John S. Tulloch, Esq J. S. T.

Colonel William Cornwallis West, J.P., C.C.

(Lord-Lieutenant of Denbighshire) . W. C. W.

C. H. Wheeley, Esq C. H. W.

Lord Wolverton W,

It is with deep regret that I draw
attention to the death of three valued
contributors, the late Canon Beechey,

xii FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

the late Lady Bridge, and the late Sir
Clinton Dawkins, while this book was in
preparation.

Though such a course is opposed to
the original plan of the work, it has
been thought desirable to retain the notes
which they so kindly sent.

F. G. A.

Teignmouth,
Easter 1906.

CONTENTS

PAGB

Introduction ....... 1

CHAPTER I

Sunshine ....... 64

CHAPTER n

Of Rain .\nd incidentally of Hail and

Sleet ....... 102

CHAPTER HI

Of Frost and Snow 140

CHAPTER IV
Of Wind l64

CHAPTER V

Of Thunder and Lightning .... 205
xiii

xiv FISHERMEN'S WEATHER
CHAPTER VI

PAOB

Of Fog and Mist 228

APPENDIX
Best and Worst Weather (Spring and Autumn)

FOR CERTAIN WaTERS .... 244

INDEX 248

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

IN COLOUR
From Pictures by Charles Whymper, F.Z.S.

A Pool on the Tay, Dalguise . . Frontispiece

On the Avon, Hants . . . Facing page 14

A Small but Good Pool . . „ 84

Salmon jumping the Falls ., 126

A Rough Day and Boiling Water „ 154

Casting into an Awkward Corner ., 190

Loch Trool ..... „ 214

"Changing the Fly" ... „ 242

FISHEKMEN'S WEATHER

INTRODUCTION

Weather as an excuse for failure — Weather in other
sports — Cases in which the influence of weather is
negligible — Mr. Hutchinson's views — Importance of
body of water in the rivei* — Salmon, sea-trout, and
Thames trout insensible to weather and temperature
— Brown trout taken in all weathers — Educated trout
more susceptible to weather than others — Mr. W. Earl
Hodgson on symptoms— Earthquakes — What is ideal
fishing weather? — Cold-weather fish — Concealing
the fraud — No consensus of expert opinion regarding
weather — Colonel Bairnsfather's ''normal weather"
theory — Mr. Harvie-Brown on the deterioration of
the British climate — The spring of 1905 — Mr. Munro
Edwards on the same subject — Weather lore in fishes
— The late Matthias Dunn's theory — Norfolk trout at
fault : Mr. Hall's experience — Sunshine — Is rising
short due to light? — Possible effect of solar eclipse
— Fish dazzled by sunshine — Rain and hail — Frost and
snow — Cases of good sport in "snow-broth " — ^^'ind —
Thunder and lightning — Fog and mist — ^Vhat. then,
is bad fishing weather? — Other conditions besides
those enumerated — ^V'eather and sea-fishing — John
Bickerdyke's views — The moral of this book.

The fisherman's first impulse, on getting

out of bed on a holiday morning, is to

1

2 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

pull up the blind and look at the sky.
An aneroid barometer knows more of the
coming weather than the sky, yet both
are untrustworthy so far as the mood of
the fish is concerned ; and the best plan,
unless the day is actually too bad for
enjoyment, is to take no notice of the
weather, but to get to the waterside as
soon as possible and there tempt fortune.

At the same time, even though, in the
light of past experience or in obedience
to the warnings of those who know, we
refuse to let the sky signs move us to
either unwarranted optimism or unneces-
sary despair, it cannot fail to be of interest
to determine such conditions of light
or temperature, such manifestations of
electrical disturbance, such changes in
the quality or quantity of the wind as
appear to exercise an appreciable, though
not a constant, influence on the sport of
fishing with rod and line.

To attach, therefore, a due and not
exaggerated significance to the part
played by atmospheric conditions in the

INTRODUCTTOX 3

day's bag is not necessarily to go to the Weather as

, , , T . • 1 1 i . 1 an excuse for

other extreme, and invariably tax the failure.
Aveather witli the responsibility for an
empty creel, which should rather have
been attributed to bad fishing. Failure
invariably seeks an impersonal excuse,
usually summed up in the somewhat
vague expression "bad luck," and the
weather is, in the course of such explana-
tion, apt to come in for more than its
share of the blame. Success, though
quite as likely to be due to similar
causes, is rarely accounted for on such
grounds. Yet there is no weather, indeed
no art, so bad as invariably to produce
a blank day. Success, as unexpected as
it is delightful, is always possible by
reason of the caprice of the fish.

The significance of weather is not the Weather in

11 , J . -n . other sports.

same m all outdoor sports, t rost means
more to the hunting man than to those
who fish or shoot. Rain may easily ruin
a day's shooting, making the birds fly
badly and spoiling them for table pur-
poses when picked up. A pastime like

4 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

skating is obviously, in the open air at
any rate, possible only in a certain
condition of temperature, while yachting
is equally dependent on the prevalence
of wind. Fishing, while never perhaps
wholly arrested by any condition except
drought, is more susceptible than most
sports to those shades of difference, on
which the favourable conditions directly
depend : the level and colour of the river
on the rainfall ; the hatch of fly on the
temperature ; the success, or even the
possibility, of fly-fishing on the strength
and direction of the wind.
Cases in It is apparent from much of the

which the -, i • i . i i .

influence of Correspondence on which these chapters
weather is ^rc bascd that many anejlers of wide and

negligible. "^ *^

varied experience regard the influence of
weather conditions as sometimes, though
by no means always, negligible. Some
have found that its effect is insignificant
in the case of certain rivers and lakes,
while others discount its importance in
the case only of a particular species of
fish. As a case of the former, reference

INTRODUCTION 5

may be made to the River Eden, at
Armathwaite, of which Dr. William
Murray writes in the following terms :
" I can catch a good basket in almost any
weather, both when the river is high and
when dead low, and on bright, cloudless
days. Under the latter conditions, I get
them under the trees and in the open,
basking on the flat rocks, which run well
out into the river. . . . For my part, I
do not think that any rules as to weather
have a general application. What suits
one place does not suit another. I have
done very well in the most boisterous,
bitter weather in April or September,
and have returned with an empty creel
after a warm, dull day, with slightly
coloured water and everything favourable.
Truly, the ways of trout are past finding
out by the wit of man."

" It is," writes Admiral Sir JNIichael
Culme Seymour, "within the experience
of most anglers that they have caught
fish in every possible sort of weather."
Another fisherman of forty -five years'

6 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

experience, Colonel St. Leger Moore,
admits that he has lived to see the failure
of almost every rule and theory regard-
ing the relations between fishing and the
weather inculcated in his boyhood. The
Rev. J. M. S. Brooke attaches no import-
ance whatever to any meteorological
conditions, except perhaps the absence
of all ripple from the water, or a very
brilliant sun. Fish, he thinks, are all eye
and no ear, and so long as they are on
the feed, weather should not appreciably
interfere with the chances of any one who
can throw a useful fly.

Mr. Standish O'Grady considers that
no fisherman can prognosticate results by
weather conditions. '*I hold," he adds,
" that it is quite possible to do well with
salmon on the brightest days, but I doubt
whether one can have too much wind."

Mr. Hutchin- Mr. Horacc Hutchinson holds a some-
son's views. I A. ' '^ • • .1 1 • .
what similar opinion on the same subject.

'* I think," he writes, " that a great deal

too much is made of the influence of

weather on fish from the angler's point of

INTRODUCTION 7

view. There are only two features of the
atmosphere that, in my opinion, are fatal
to success with trout, and, in less degree,
with salmon : the one is a mist, coming
down thick and low on the river ; the
other is the appearance of bright, white,
hummocky clouds in a clear sky. People
tell you a lot about fish coming short in
consequence of the angle of light on the
water. This, I think, is all very specu-
lative. Again, when they tell you that
fish rise directly after the rain begins and
stop as soon as it leaves off, I think that
this really means that when the drops
were falling, the surface was broken by
them, and the lure was therefore able to
delude the fish as it could not when the
surface was calm. Wind, of course, acts
in the same way, more obviously in loch-
fishing. In a ripple, you will catch fish
at every cast, but when it dies down, you
will not catch one. If the water is low,
you will not catch fish with a bright, clear
sky, but again it is all a question of the
fish seeing the lure too plainly. Naturally,

8 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

Importance
of body of
water in the
river.

the indirect effects of weather, in altering
the height and colour of the water, have
an immense influence, but the immediate
effect of changes is either nil, or else so
subtle in its cause that we cannot under-
stand it. That, at least, is my opinion."

General Tulloch, who has had a long
experience of renting stretches on the
Usk, the Ristagouche (Canada), a Nor-
wegian river, and some fishing on the
Ness (during a tenancy of two years on
the last he kept faithful day and night
registers of the temperature), considers
that the run of salmon depends wholly
on the body of water in the river and not
in the least on weather conditions. Nor
is he alone in regarding the body of water
as of much greater importance than either
weather or temperature. Mr. Conner
writes of the Bandon River : *' The best
day is immediately after the rise of the
river after rain is over. You will then
kill salmon in practically any weather."
Again : " In every river that I have fished,"
says Sir Henry Seton-Karr, "(and they

INTRODUCTION 9

are many), the experienced local fishermen
know, to an inch almost, the proper height
for every throw."

It would seem as if the larger game
fish, salmon, sea-trout and Thames trout
were all at certain times, and in some
waters at any rate, insensible to the in-
fluence of weather and temperature.

Of the first. Sir Herbert Maxwell Salmon, sea-
writes : " Given no excess of sunshine, ThameTtrout
I have yet to learn what is a bad day for insensible to

weather and

salmon fishing. If fish are in the water, temperature,
some are sure to be on the move, but, as
they are not feeding, naturally they are
more capricious than trout." As regards
the connection between salmon fishing
and temperature. Sir Henry Seton-Karr
writes : " Anglers break the ice on the
Thurso in January, and on Deeside in
February ; they shake the ice from line
and rod-rings on the Tweed in November,
and in all these cases catch salmon freely
on the fly ; while on summer evenings
many an Irish and Norwegian salmon-
river yield their best sport." Dr. Bright

10 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

lays similar stress on the extreme latitude
in the matter of weather and temperature
accorded to the salmon-fisherman. " I
have," he says, "found salmon taking
eagerly in the most glaring sun, when
the hollows of the wavelets were deep
blue and the crests so brilliant a silver
that you could scarcely look at them. I
have taken fish equally well on sullen,
dark, thundery days, when the water was
all brown and grey. I have taken them
when it was so cold that the line threat-
ened to freeze, and, again, when so hot
that the metal of the rod was unpleasant
to touch, but scarcely ever without a
breeze. I believe that the movement of
the water, possibly its increased oxida-
tion, is the real thing affecting fish. I do
not think it is because the ripple hides
the hook." The last sentence in Dr.
Bright's hiteresting summary is in bold
conflict with the almost universallv ac-
cepted opinion that a ripple is necessary,
especially in the still water of lakes, to
hide the glint of the gut; but this is

INTRODUCTION 11

more appropriately discussed on a later
page.

Of sea-trout, Lord INIontagu of Beau-
lieu writes : " I have caught them in
all kinds of weather — rainstorms, hail-
storms, thunderstorms, etc., and in bright
weather with an east wind." Nor are
the experiences of JNIr. Wheeley with
Thames trout, with which he has had
great success, less varied, since of those
fish he has "killed one in a blinding
snowstorm and others in blazing sun and
clear water." These catches under con-
ditions so varied have led him to conclude
that the Thames trout may be killed " in
all conditions of water and weather,
raging flood or summer drought."

In some waters, at any rate, it looks as
if brown trout are scarcely more affected
by weather and temperature than their
bigger relatives, though their appetites
are necessarily affected by either a rise in
temperature, which may bring out a
hatch of fly, or a shower of rain, which
may wash down a harvest of worms.

12 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

Brown trout " I supposc," writcs Sir Herbert Max-
weatiiers. v^G^f "that the rising of trout takes place
when, and only when, larvae are rising
simultaneously to the surface to become
flies. Of course, a casual trout will rise
at stray flies blown into the water ; and
in shallow northern streams, where small
trout are hungry, they are on the look-
out for flies, or any other form of food,
at almost all times and in all weathers.
But the regular rise is dependent on the
rise of fly, and that, of some species, seems
to depend on season and hour of day,
irrespective of weather. For instance,
one March, on a bitter, blustery day, with
driving snow and the river full of floating
and fixed ice, there was a tremendous rise
of March Browns on the Helmsdale,
which the trout were ravenously devour-
ing, though the water temperature was
only 33^ F. No angler would have found
any encouragement from the text-books
to go forth under such a sky. Yet he
might have filled a big basket. The
biggest rise of March Browns I ever

INTRODUCTION 13

saw was on the Tay in April (1905) :
weather bitter, with hard north wind.
The river was alive with rising trout,
but, as usual, I was after salmon. It is
the same in lakes. I have had good and
fast sport with strong east wind in spring.
Sometimes, on such a day, a heavy snow-
storm brings up the fly and the trout
after them. I recollect especially one
morning when there was a big rise of
duns. I could hardly see to cast for
snowflakes, but I caught big trout very
quickly. Contrariwise, in lochs especi-
ally, the most promising weather and
water may also be a fraud. All depends
whether flies happen to be coming up."

Mr. JNIichelmore, who has had long
experience of the moorland trout-streams
of Devonshire, has made good baskets on
the Exe during a thunderstorm, on the
Teign during a snowstorm, on the Barle
during a hailstorm, and on the Coley
when the water was so thick from previous
rain that it seemed impossible for trout to
see the fly.

14 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

Educated If oiic rulc sccms morc reasonable than

trout more q^\^qj.^ [^ js that educated trout in much-

susceptible to '

weather than fished waters are far more sensitive to
weather influences than those which know
little of the ways of man. It will not
escape notice in the following chapters
that the fish of the Thames, Tweed, Tay,
and other much -flogged waters are far
more influenced by weather than those of
more isolated districts. Major Boulton
mentions a case of the close relations that
exist between fishing and the weather in
the island of North Uist, the highly
educated trout of which are peculiarly
susceptible to such influences, while
Colonel Cornwallis West contrasts the
educated trout of Hampshire chalk-
streams with the unsophisticated fish of
Welsh rivers, and points out that the
latter are little affected by the weather.
The comparative insensibility of unedu-
cated trout to changes of the weather is
also noted by Sir Henry Seton-Karr, who,
during his experiences in the Western
States of America, had exceptional oppor-

ON THE AVON, HANTS

INTRODUCTION 15

tunities of contrasting the simple fish

of rivers new to the fly -fisherman with

those of more frequented waters at home.

"The best brown trout," he writes, "of

the Irish Erne — and these run up to

8 lbs. weight and even more — are hardly

ever caught, except at night, when we

must presume that they cannot see the

line. By the kindness of the proprietors,

the trout fishing on the Erne is free, and

the trout in consequence much fished

over and highly educated. On the other

hand, it has been my lot to enjoy some

excellent trout fishing in the heart of the

Rockies, in the clear mountain -streams

that drain the western watershed of

Northern Wyoming. I doubt if the

trout in those streams had then ever

seen an artificial fly before, and so I had

an opportunity of studying the primitive

ways of trout absolutely ignorant of the

wiles of the angler. Their eagerness and

voracity for almost any size or colour of

fly, within reason, was delightful, and,

as they ran up to 4 lbs. weight, they

16 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

afforded much sport, besides welcome
food for a hungry camp. The only
weather condition that seriously affected
the rise was, so far as my experience and
observation went, the temperature. The
brighter and hotter the sun, the more
lively and voracious as a rule were the
trout. When the cool of the evening
came on, particularly in September, the
rise usually ceased."
Mr. w. Earl From these evidences, with others to
symptoms"" ^^ adduccd in subsequent chapters, it is
obvious that hard and fast rules are
foreign to the subject of the present
inquiry, and these instances have been
cited at the outset with a view to laying
stress on the absence of dogma from this
attempt to review our present knowledge
of the meaning of weather and tempera-
ture to the fisherman. Indeed Mr. W.
Earl Hodgson, whose charming work
on Trend Fishing has already been men-
tioned as devoting exceptional attention
to the subject of the weather, is of opinion
that not one of the conditions which give

INTRODUCTION 17

their names to the following chapters is
actually responsible for good or bad sport,
but that each may be symptomatic of
some more or less complex set of condi-
tions not without influence on the appetite
of the fish. This interesting suggestion
opens up a wider scope of inquiry than
that planned for the present volume, and
is quoted only for the benefit of such con-
templative anglers as may care in their
leisure to follow it up.

Another most interesting hypothesis. Earthquakes,
suggested by Mr. Sheringham, must also
be dismissed with passing notice, chiefly
for want of sufficient data. INIr. Shering-
ham's view is that periods of European
earthquake have been synchronous with
poor fishing results. This suggestion,
which may perhaps be borne out by the
experience of others, may prove that the
influence of even remote seismic disturb-
ance can make itself felt on a class of
animals that, outside the area of actual
upheaval, would seem peculiarly immune
from its effects.

2

18 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

What is As distinct from a purely academic

weather?*"^ interest inseparable from such inquiries,
the strictly practical use of such evidence
as has been collected in the present volume
is to acquaint the fisherman with the best
and worst weather for his sport with
particular fish and in waters of well-
marked climatic conditions. Much de-
pends on what individual sportsmen expect
of the weather. The mere consideration
of personal comfort, the objection to rain,
the aversion from frost or east wind, or
the fear of lightning, are not without
their bearing on this diversity of opinion,
but are, as has been explained, outside
the scope of these chapters. Something,
however, of the view as to what consti-
tutes ideal fishing weather depends on the
part which the weather is supposed to
play in the day's sport. Briefly, favour-
able weather may accomplish two pur-
poses : it may make the fish eager to
feed, and it may help to conceal the decep-
tions practised by the fisherman. The
first would seem to be a matter mainly of

INTRODUCTION 19

temperature ; the second, mainly one of
light A high temperature is as a rule
the one which makes trout feed by bring-
ing up a hatch of fly, yet so experienced a
dry-fly fisherman as Mr. Sydney Buxton
has observed that a cold day sometimes
produces the heaviest and strongest hatch,
so that, even in the choice of temperature,
tastes will vary in accordance with in-
dividual experience. A low temperature
may indirectly enhance the value of the
fisherman's bait in another manner, by
either killing or driving elsewhere the
natural food of the fish. A case in point
is mentioned by Mr. Wheeley, who attri-
butes much of his success with Thames
trout in weirs during a bitter spell of east
wind to the cold having driven the bleak
out of such spots, and consequently leav-
ing the famished trout ravenous for the
bleak used by the angler as bait.

With regard to those fish which do not Coid-weather

fish

depend for their food on a hatch of fly, it
is a matter of opinion whether they feed
better in a high or low temperature. A

20 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

very few, like the barbel, are apparently
only rarely caught during the winter
months, and roach appear to feed best in
frosty weather in some waters, while in
others, under the same conditions, they
seem to fast.
Concealing Dr. Bright's opiuiou that the ripple

on the water, which the majority of fly-
fishermen prefer even in rivers, and in lake-
fishing find indispensable, is of no service
in concealing the gut cast, has already been
referred to. It may be the correct one,
but it is fair to say that it is opposed
to the opinion current among fishermen.
The extent to which a strong or moderate
light, or a ruffling breeze on the surface,
may hide the fisherman's tackle cannot be
precisely determined, since such an esti-
mate would entail accurate knowledge of
how an object like an artificial fly appears
to the eye of the fish. Even the range
of vision in fishes is not known with any
certainty, though even so highly organised
a fish as a salmon is said to see an object
under water no more than six inches

INTRODUCTION 21

away. We are, however, for practical
purposes concerned rather with how fishes
see an object dropped on the surface of
the water, between their eye, that is to
say, and the source of all natural light.
This may be a very different matter, and
some measure of concealment is presum-
ably afforded by either of the extreme
conditions of an overcast sky or a dazzling
sun. The vision of the fish may, that is,
be equally handicapped by too little or too
much light. For this reason, there is an
old-fashioned prejudice in favour of a dark
fly for bright days and a bright one for
dull weather, but the practical application
of this rule is subject to many exceptions.
The portion of his tackle which most
betrays the wiles of the fisherman is his
gut, the apparently indestructible glint of
which must always be fatal to perfect
concealment Beside the conspicuous
apparition of the gut, the mere colour
of the fly, as seen against a well-lighted
background, may, though its size be all-
important, amount to a negligible quantity.

22 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

No consensus From even the foregoing selection of
opiSon divergent opinion as to the influence of
regarding tvpical Conditions of light, weather, and

weather.

temperature, the absence of any stereo-
typed ideal weather to suit all tastes, fish,
and rivers will at once be apparent.
From the whole of the following pages,
indeed, it would in all probability be im-
possible to select a single condition, or set
of conditions, on which, even among the
comparatively few fishermen who have
been good enough to contribute the
material, there is unanimity of friendly
or adverse opinion.
Colonel The view that different weather suits

"normal ^^ ^ different localities finds general expression
weather" in what Coloncl Bairnsfathcr, a fisherman
of lifelong experience in both this country
and India, calls his " normal weather "
theory. Briefly, the meaning of this is
that he regards the normal weather of
India as most favourable for catching
mahseer, and the normal weather of Great
Britain as most suitable for catching
trout. The latter fish, as he points out,

INTRODUCTION 23

are often shy on the brightest days ; on
the other hand, it is in clear, bright
weather that the best mahseer are caught.
General Morton shares this opinion of
the best mahseer weather, though Colonel
Deane adds that on these bright days he
never made a good bag of mahseer, unless
there was also a breeze. As regards at
any rate the normal feeding habits of the
two fish under notice, there is evidently
much to be said for Colonel Bairnsfather's
theory. He quaintly adds in further
support of his view that mahseer might
have to wait a long time for a dull day in
India, while in some seasons trout in
England would run serious risk of death
from starvation if they were to refuse
their food until the sun shone. The chief
objection to this theory, in its practical
application to deciding the chances of
success, is the difficulty of determining
what actually is the normal weather of
some countries. If we take England, for
instance, it is clear that the normal, or at
any rate average, weather varies during

24 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

cycles of years, for the English seasons
have conspicuously changed even during
the past quarter of a century. Our
winters are nowadays far milder than
they were in early - Victorian times, to
judge at any rate from the rigours of
Christmastide as depicted by Dickens and
contemporary artists ; and a succession
of open weather on New Year's Eve has
lent an old-fashioned and unnatural air
to the orthodox pictures of snowbound
coaches and frozen rivers.
Mr. Harvie- To men and women of normal tastes
the deteriora- thcsc are chaugcs for the better, but
tionofthe there are other revolutions in the seasons,

British

climate. particularly in the springtide of the year,
which fishermen cannot view with the
same enthusiasm. Mr. J. A. Harvie-
Brown, who has most kindly placed at
my disposal two profusely annotated
copies of The Wonderful Trout, at-
tributes much of the falling -off in
spring trout-fishing at the present day
less to over-fishing than to the woeful
deterioration of that once lovely season.

INTRODUCTION 25

"Seeing," he writes, "that we have cold
north winds now far into May, and that
it is often only in small sheltered nooks
and corners that any fly is seen to hatch
off at all, the chances are again decreased.
Often, when one angler confines his at-
tention to some small sheltered reach and
fishes it over and over again all day,
killing a fair basket, another angler, only
a few hundred yards away, neither gets a
fish nor sees a single natural insect on the
water."

The early part of 1905, particularly The spring
on the west side of Scotland, was too °
subject to spates to be in general favour
with salmon-fishermen. One result was
that salmon went right through short
coast rivers, like the Awe, and found
their way to higher waters, like (in this
instance) those of the Orchy, without
giving the rods below a chance of sport.

Nor is Mr. Harvie-Brown alone in his Mr. Munro

J . • r? . 1 • . 1 • Edwards on

condemnation oi the sprmg weather m ^jj^ game
recent seasons. Mr. Munro Edwards, subject
writing with special reference to Lake

26 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

Talyllyn, alludes to the same grievance as
follows : " The hatch of light olive duns,
which occurred formerly so regularly
in May and June, is now exceedingly
scarce, and naturally the trout take to
cannibalism and bottom-feeding."
Weather lore Fcw aspccts of the relations that exist
in s es. j^ greater or less degree between fishing
and the weather are more interesting, or,
for the matter of that, of more practical
importance, than the evidence for or
against regarding certain game and
coarse fish as weatherwise. The instinct
which foretells coming changes of the
weather is familiar in both wild and
domestic animals, and few of those who
live in the country are unfamiliar with
such signs of rain as the sight of swallows
flying near the ground or the sound of
asses braying. It is not improbable that
the significance of these alleged indica-
tions of bad weather is much overrated,
but they are popularly accepted in this
light, and many folks would sooner trust
their infallibility than that of the baro-

INTRODUCTION 27

meter. At any rate, it is only what we
should expect that animals living in a
medium so sensitive to pressure as water
should be in close sympathy with baro-
metric variations. JNIany instances of
their real or supposed power to forecast
a change of weather for better or for
worse will be found recorded in the
following chapters. From Mold, m North
Wales, two independent witnesses testify
to the weather wise talents of local trout.
Colonel Davies-Cooke assures me that
the fish have again and again foreseen and
foretold a coming change from twelve to
twenty-four hours before it was recorded
by his Admiral Fitzroy barometer ; and
Major Wynn Eyton writes : '* I have a
small hatchery here, and on the morning of
the 28th August last the small fishes
would not come for their food. Even the
big fishes, terrible gluttons, would hardly
come to the surface for theirs. During
the next twenty -four hours we had
1*28 inches of rain. It looks as if the
fish were expecting a lot of bottom-

28 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

food to come down and were waiting
for it."

Colonel Davies-Cooke goes in greater
detail into the behaviour of these and
other fish in face of a coming change.
Thus : " With a falling barometer, trout
are sulky, in particular towards the close
of a dry period. When the barometer is
slowly dropping, both salmon and trout
will leap high out of the water and are
not feeding, only playing ; and if by
chance the angler gets a rise, it will be
short." A falling barometer, indicating
unsettled weather, is also fatal to gray-
ling fishing. "Grayling," writes Mr.
Rolt, whose monograph on this much-
criticised fish is now in a second edition,
" are influenced by atmospheric condi-
tions more, probably, than any other
freshwater fish. The morning may look
promising enough, plenty of fly may
hatch out, and every trout be on the
move, but grayling, for some occult cause,
cannot be induced to rise. On the return
home, after a fruitless day, it may be

INTRODUCTION 29

found that the barometer has steadily
fallen, and herein lies the explanation of
their perversity."

Many sea-fish, particularly those which, The late
Uke herrings and pilchards, move in shoals ^unn's*^
near the surface, and thus come in closer theory,
contact than most with the atmospheric
conditions, display sensibility to coming
storms. The late Matthias Dunn of
Mevagissey attributed this to the prompt-
ings of a special dermal sense, to which
he, in fact, added a seventh, the function
of which was to keep them informed of
the proximity of those magnetic headlands
which abut on the track of their migra-
tions. His views, though most ingenious
and based on a sincere conviction obvious
to all who knew him, did not find general
support in scientific circles, but the hy-
pothesis of additional senses in some of
the inferior animals undoubtedly furnishes
a simple explanation for the marvellous
manifestations of what we vaguely describe
as their instinct.

Yet these same instincts are not in-

30 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

Norfolk trout fallible. Mr. Hubert Hall has communi-
Mr. Hall's catcd SL Hiost interesting, because in some
experience, ^ays Unique, case of faulty weather-lore
in the trout of a Norfolk stream that he
has regularly fished for twelve years and
more. He thus states their case : " I
have been struck by the apparent inabihty
of fish to distinguish between a threatened
thunderstorm, which eventually bursts
upon the valley, and one which never
approaches within a distance of several
miles of the watershed. It is a well-
marked peculiarity of the purely local
climate that numberless summer storms,
or * tempests,' as they are termed by the
natives, approach within a certain distance
of the valley and then pass out to sea.
The natives have long ceased to be
deceived by these indications, and even
cattle and birds show indifference to them,
except in the rare cases in which they are
destined to break in earnest upon the
thirsty soil. With the trout it is different.
They cease rising altogether and jump
frequently, with all the other symptoms

INTRODUCTION 31

of electrical disturbance in the atmosphere.
The eels are affected in a similar way, the
obvious cause of uneasiness being the
electricity in the air. Here at least is
none of that prescience of a coming feast
which is commonly attributed to their
unfailing instinct." In view, however, of
the fact that the conditions described in
such interesting fashion by Mr. Hall are
wholly exceptional, it is possible that he
is unduly hard on the instinct of trout
under more normal influences. It is,
however, clear that Mr. Hall's intention
is to raise a question of cause rather than
effect, whether the sluggishness of fishes
before an impending flood is due to the
promise of food or to some physical shock
to which they are peculiarly susceptible.

Of all the influences which make them- Sunshine,
selves felt in the course of a day's fishing,
none perhaps is more evident than the
variations in the light and heat of the sun.
The former affects the sight of the fish,
and betrays to its suspicious eyes the
shadow of the fisherman or the lurking

32 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

dangers of his tackle. Tlie latter is
mainly important in bringing up a hatch
of fly, but may also either stimulate or
deaden the appetites of the fish. The
generally accepted view of sunshine as an
influence hi trout fishing seems to be that
intermittent gleams, with dark clouds in
the intervals, are among the most favour-
able conditions. As regards salmon
fishing, many anglers of experience, among
them Sir Henry Seton-Karr, have no
fault to find with a bright sun so long as
it shines upstream, not down, from the
back of the fish, that is to say, and not
right in its eyes. The peculiar sunset
glow, low on the water, is distinct from
ordinary sunlight earher in the day, and
opinions differ as to its effect. Mr. Bagot
dislikes it particularly for sea-trout, but
with salmon Mr. Barker has had good
results when the sun is setting, " and the
light is warm and oblique." It goes per-
haps without saying that any prejudicial
effect which bright sunshine may have is
diminished by discoloured, and heightened

INTRODUCTION 33

by clear, water ; and consequently Mr.
Gathorne- Hardy regards sunshine as im-
material when the river is dirty.

There is in most fishes, in those more isrising short
particularly which are taken on the fly, a "^ ° '^
tantalising trick, which we call "rising
short." On occasions the true explana-
tion may no doubt lie in bad fishing, for
maladroitness on the part of the fisherman
may either frighten the fish or pull the fly
out of its reach. There are, however,
times when it is no fault of the angler
that as many as a score of fish in succes-
sion will rise at the fly without being
hooked. General Morton communicates
an interesting fact in connection with this
habit, to the effect that the sea-trout in
certain Scotch lochs regularly rise short
at a fixed time in the afternoon, usually
about 3 to 4 p.m., and a case of such
regularity points to some peculiar and
constant condition of the light striking
the surface of the water at a particular
angle. On one such occasion he counted
no fewer than twenty-one successive rises

34 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

without his landing a single fish. At
first he attributed this to his own care-
lessness or want of skill, but he rejected
this explanation on finding that he again
hooked and landed his fish as soon as this
period was over. It would no doubt be
satisfactory if this annoying trick, which
at times frustrates the fisherman's skill,
baffles his resource, and sorely tries his
patience, could be explained in the manner
here suggested ; but it must at once
be admitted that no such conclusion is
warranted by the evidence at present
available. It might, however, make a
useful and interesting subject for inde-
pendent inquiry.
Possible None of those who have answered

ecirle'^^^" these questions make any reference, when
dealing with the effect of sunshine, to the
particular influence of a solar eclipse.
The truth is that such a phenomenon
occurs so rarely that fishermen have prob-
ably not had the opportunity of making
any regular observations on its influence,
if it has any, on fishing. As a personal

INTRODUCTION 85

experience of no particular value, I may
just mention in passing that I was fishing
for bass in the estuary of the Teign during
most of the period of eclipse on August
30, 1905. In that river — we usually
account a day of dead smooth water and
glaring sun the best for catching the large
bass — it was noticeable that, in spite of
bright sunshine and the smoothest of
water between 1 and 3 p.m., not a single
bass was caught in the right way, though
I ascertained that fish were in the river
by accidentally foul-hooking one of about
a pound weight. In that part of Devon-
shire at that hour very little of the eclipse
was visible, save through smoked glass,
and the sun shone oppressively. There
was also a heavy, electrical feeling in
the atmosphere, and it is probably this,
whether connected with the eclipse or
not, which put the fish down, as they never
take the bait with thunder threatening.^

' Yet only a little farther down the coast, Mr. Minchin,
fishing at the same time that day, found that whiting took
the bait freely.— F. G. A.

36 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

Fish dazzled The succcss which attends bass fishing,

by sunshine. v-.r • j j i?i'

^ as has just been noted, on days or glaring

sunlight has always seemed to me capable
of explanation by the fact that they are
dazzled by the sun. Bass, it must be
borne in mind, enter estuaries like that of
the Teign, not with any idea, like salmon,
of ascending to the upper reaches to
deposit their eggs, but solely in order to
feed on the sand-eels and mackerel-fry,
which they have previously followed into
the brackish water. When, therefore, a
hungry bass is dazzled 'by the glare of a
July sun shining right in its eyes, it prob-
ably sees nothing but the bait, and for
that it makes a dash without heeding
the fine gut -line beyond. Sir Herbert
Maxwell, whose researches into the ques-
tion of vision in salmon and trout have
prompted theories that have been widely
discussed in angling circles, is also of
opinion that fish, which have no eyelids
to shield their eyes from the sun's glare,
are peculiarly susceptible to this effect of
dazzling.

INTRODUCTION 37

Opinions are divided as to the precise Rain and hail
manner in which a downpour of rain or
hail may, directly or otherwise, affect the
fisherman's chances. It seems to be
established that the majority of fish feed
well during, at any rate, light showers, and
some, like the mahseer, are said to feed on
hailstones, occasionally even with fatal
results. As distinct from the imperfectly
understood effect of a fall of rain or hail
on the appetite of fish, we have in the
course of the chapter on the subject to
consider the indirect bearing of the rise
of rivers in a spate, the discoloration of
the water by floods, and the washing down
of fresh stores of worms and other natural
food. Under certain conditions also the
patter of rain-drops on the surface of dead
still water may in some measure serve the
fly-fisherman in place of a breeze, though
whether, as generally believed, by hiding
the cast, or, as Dr. Bright prefers to think,
by more thoroughly oxidising the water,
it is difficult to determine.

The question of the right level of each

38 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

particular river, or pool, which is what is
chiefly meant by the water being "in
order," is most interesting, and, unless
there is artificial damming, is, like the
colour of the water, directly dependent
on the rainfall. The condition of a river
setthng down after a flood is a very
favourite one with experienced fishermen
in many localities, but evidence is given
in Chapter II. of some waters which yield,
if anything, even better sport under other
conditions and levels. Besides the condi-
tion which we call rain at normal temper-
atures and the extremely cold stage called
snow, which is more appropriately, to-
gether with frost, considered in the
following chapter, we shall in Chapter II.
take into account the effects of hail, while
Mr. Michelmore and others have some-
thing to say of the prejudicial effects of
certain clouds, which may be regarded as
rain in embryo.
Frost and Apart from the extreme condition of
ice, which, to any but a Samoy^de fishing
through ice-holes, precludes fishing alto-

snow.

INTRODUCTION 39

gather, a very low temperature may not
affect the appetite of the fish unfavourably.
Grayling and chub appear to feed eagerly
in frosty weather, and salmon are often
caught freely on days that follow nights
of frost. Barbel, on the other hand, are
rarely taken at all during wintry weather ;
and bream, though they may be creeled
on mild days in the depth of winter, are
also essentially summer and autumn fish.
As regards snow, an actual fall seems less
prejudicial to all manner of fishing than
melting snow, or "snow-broth," in the
water. The evil effects of this melted
snow cannot be a mere question of low
temperature, since a sharp frost may do
nothing to impede the capture of the very
fish that sulk in pools tainted with the
"broth." Success in actual snowstorms, Cases of good
though chiefly noted in salmon fishing, is ffgnow"
also recorded with sea -trout, Thames broth."
trout, brown trout, grayling, and roach.
Even to the general rule of snow-broth
being fatal to sport there are exceptions,
for Mr. Rolt says that grayling will some-

40 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

times feed in spite of it, and Mr. Gallichan
adds the interesting qualification that this
is the case, in Derbyshire streams at any
rate, only when the temperature falls
below freezing-point, a condition under
which grayling are apparently indifferent
to this usually baneful influence. Brown
trout are commonly regarded as more
susceptible to the numbing effect of snow-
water than even most other fish, but Mr.
Gallichan mentions a case of a professional
Welsh fisherman making a great catch of
trout with the worm in spite of it, and
Mr. Champneys once enjoyed many days
of the best trout fishing that he ever had
in a Scotch river during a succession of
freshes caused by the melting of snow on
warm nights. In connection with this
experience he offers an interesting explana-
tion, which will be found in Chapter III.
Wind. With reference to wind, we are con-
cerned with its quantity and quality, and
the latter, be it observed, is not always
constant for any particular quarter ; that
is to say, the west wind may blow colder

INTRODUCTION 41

and harder on some waters than the east
wind on others. For some fish, in both
salt water and fresh, anglers prefer no wind
at all. Lord Desborough, who had re-
markable success with tarpon in Florida,
found that his sport with that fish was
best on still days. Mr. Sheringham like-
wise prefers a dead calm for roach, bream,
tench, and perch. In most kinds of float-
fishing excessive wind is for obvious reasons
a drawback, just as in many forms of fish-
ing with the artificial fly it is almost
indispensable. For bass fishing in estu-
aries I prefer a dead calm, but in the open
sea, particularly when fishing off" rocky
headlands, a curl on the water is productive
of better results. The discomfort of too
much wind in sea-fishing is too evident to
need the support of evidence ; but, gener-
ally speaking, the calmest days are best
for pollack, bream, or whiting fishing at
anchor, while in mackerel fishing from a
boat under sail, as stiff" a breeze as is com-
patible with easy management of the boat
will generally be found to put the mackerel

42 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

on the feed, as well, no doubt, as to con-
ceal the line in the broken wave -tops.
As regards the effect, favourable or the
reverse, of winds from different quarters
of the compass, much evidence will be
found in Chapter IV., from which it will
appear that not even the much -abused
east wind is always as black as it is painted,
since for Loch Leven, and some other
waters similarly situated, it is not only
not prejudicial to sport, but actually the
best wind that can blow. It is a matter
of opinion, with reference to this particu-
lar loch, whether the advantage of an east
wind lies wholly in the fact that it suits
the drifts on that east-and-west water, or
whether it may not in part be due to its
temperature being less harsh (since, on the
east side of Scotland, it blows over the
sea) than it is on western rivers. One
correspondent describes it as a "much-
libelled wind," and points out that when-
ever it blows upstream, it is likely to
favour salmon and trout fishing more
than a wind from any other quarter. In

INTRODUCTION 43

the same way, since it is on that coast an
offshore wind, and therefore ensures a calm
sea, it is preferred to any other for sea-
fishing on the west coast of Ireland, while
at Brixham, on the other hand, it helps
the bass -fisher in the opposite way, by
giving the desirable curl to the water.
The significance of the east wind, in fact,
under a variety of accompanying condi-
tions, is an excellent example of the
absolute futility of any attempt to lay
down hard and fast rules.

If anything can make an easterly wind
still worse for fishing, where it is already
bad, it is a touch of north in it. Though
this, again, is not without many excep-
tions, a north-easterly wind probably has
more enemies among fishermen than that
blowing from any other quarter. Yet
even in this detested wind success is not
unknown, for Colonel M'Inroy once
caught four salmon in such a wind in the
course of an hour and a half, and, with
the wind in the same quarter, Major
Boulton remembers having, in the Outer

44 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

Hebrides, hooked no fewer than fourteen
in a little over three hours' fishing.
Touching trout, so high an authority on
dry-fly fishing as JNIr. Sydney Buxton has
noticed "that the fish, perhaps invigorated
and braced, will occasionally rise best
with the N.E. wind, though casting is
thereby rendered more difficult."

It is the winds from the south or west,
or any point between the two, that have
the warmest advocates among fishermen,
who only favour the colder blasts under
exceptional circumstances.
Thunder and With thuudcr, as with rain, a distinc-
ig ing. ^-^j^ must be drawn between a storm
actually in progress and another which
threatens but may not burst in the im-
mediate neighbourhood of the water
fished. JNIr. Hall's experience of Norfolk
trout, unable to distinguish between the
two conditions, has previously been noticed.
As a general rule, and one with perhaps
fewer exceptions than most of the rules
formulated in these pages, it may be taken
that most fish decline to feed when there

INTRODUCTION 45

is "thunder in the air," the peculiarly
oppressive feeling in the atmosphere
which precedes a storm apparently spoil-
ing their appetites. This reluctance on
their part to take a fly or bait immediately
before the gathering of the storm does
not, however, extend to the period when
it is actually in progress, for Chapter V.
will be found to contain frequent allusions
to good sport during the most violent dis-
plays of lightning. Mr. Bagot on the
North Tyne, Sir Ford North on the Irish
Erne, Colonel Moore on the Slaney,
General O'Callaghan on the Wansbeck
(Northumberland), Mr. Gallichan in the
Ardennes, Colonel Malcolm of Poltalloch
on the Add, Mr. Coleridge on the Torri-
don, Mr. Dodd in the Black Forest, Mr.
Noble on the Blackadder, and others,
chronicle good catches of salmon or trout
during storms of greater or less severity,
and Mr. Wheeley caught one of his best
Thames trout under similar conditions.
The common eel is not a fish calculated
to attract many sportsmen to the water-

46 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

side, but those who find their pleasure in
its capture will note that more than one
correspondent draws attention to the fact
that thunder is good for eels.
Fog and The personal discomfort (which in
country like the Devonshire moorland
becomes actual danger) of going fishing
in a fog is so obvious as to need no
comment. What concerns us more
closely in the present volume is the direct
influence of fogs and mists on fishing.
Mist on the hills is, according to the
evidence given in Chapter VI., generally
fatal to sport, whether in the salmon-pools
of the Aberdeenshire Dee or Argyllshire
Awe, on the Torridon, on the Itchen, or
on the lakes of Norway. Yet, during a
foggy October morning on the Spey, Sir
Ford North caught two salmon in three-
quarters of an hour, and, coming to coarse-
fishing, Mr. R. B. Marston recalls having
on one occasion caught roach as fast as he
could land them, though the fog was so
dense at the time that he could hardly see
his float Mr. Basil Champneys regards

INTRODUCTION 47

mist on the water as fatal in dry-fly fishing,
though not necessarily prejudicial to the
wet fly, a distinction for which he gives a
very reasonable explanation.

As regards sea-fishing, I doubt whether
fog has much effect on, at any rate,
ground-fish, though, as it is not usual to
leave the shore with any menace of fog
in evidence, opportunities of judging its
influence are very few. More than once,
however, I have been surprised when at
anchor by a passing fog, during which the
safest course is just to remain on the
ground till the land clears ; and on one
occasion at any rate the tedium of waiting
was relieved by some of the fastest
whiting fishing that I ever remember
having. I do not, however, attribute this
to the effect of the fog, but merely to my
having anchored on a particularly good
ground near the Eddy stone and to the
whiting being that afternoon on the feed.

From the foregoing summary of the ^Vhat, then,
lines on which the present inquiry has ^eather> "^
been prosecuted, it would seem as if most

48 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

fish can at one time or another be caught
in practically any weather. "Not one of
the conditions that you name," writes Mr.
Gatliorne-Hardy, " would keep me from
the riverside if the water were in order."
It may therefore occur to the reader to
ask : What day, then, is really bad for
fishing? "Apart from the intermittent
appetite of a trout," writes Sir Henry
Seton-Karr, as if in answer to the question,
" the usually accepted adverse conditions
are a bright sun, and, if on a lake, smooth
water, also east wind or thunderstorms."
Yet, as will be shown, not one of these
real or supposed drawbacks is without its
exceptions. Frankly, the fisherman's bad
day is just the day on which he cannot
catch any fish, neither more nor less. It
has, we shall perceive, nothing whatever
to do with the bad days of other folks.
Indeed, what other people call bad
weather may seem ideal to the fisherman.
Colonel Deane and others, who like a
perfect gale for lake-fishing, would hardly
find the ordinary tourist of their opinion.

INTRODUCTION 49

and the average preference for an overcast
day to one of uninterrupted sunshine
argues eccentricity to the lay mind. The
angler may therefore revel in what other
folk regard as hideous weather. " The
best sort of day for this loch," said a
keeper in reply to Colonel Malcolm's
inquiry, " the best sort of day, Kornel, is
a real beast of a day " ! That, then, which
is miserable Aveather to the ordinary
understanding may give the fisherman the
chance of his lifetime. Indeed, this
indifference to dirty weather may even
assume a more acute phase, in which, it
is to be feared, the fisherman figures in
a very selfish light. Rain and storms,
as Mr. Wheeley points out, while having
no terrors for the angling enthusiast, keep
other folks at home, and in much-
frequented waters, like those of the Lower
Thames, this may mean immunity from
the madding crowd of motor -boats and
other pleasure-craft, a privilege which
fishermen may think cheaply bought at
the price of a wetting.

4

50 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

Other condi- Doubtlcss there are other conditions

tions besides n .^ , i . i t i

those or the water and atmosphere beyond

enumerated, those enumerated in the queries ad-
dressed to those who have made such
generous response. As a case in point,
there is the possible influence of distant
earthquakes, as suggested by Mr. Sher-
ingham. Sir John Edwards-Moss also
refers to *'an atmospheric peculiarity,
which you do not mention, that peculiar
blue haze, like London milk, which one
sometimes gets with a S.E. wind " ; and
he gives an instance in which, though
usually regarding this as a hopeless con-
dition for fishing, he once tried his luck
in it, and killed no fewer than six salmon
on a Silver Doctor on his beat on the
Naver. Yet another strange and hitherto
unexplained phenomenon, familiar to the
majority of fishermen, is referred to by
Colonel Davies - Cooke in the following
terms : —

" I have one more subject to touch on,
not mentioned in your letter, and that is
those most peculiar movements, nearly

INTRODUCTION 51

always in squally weather, as of some fish
darting s^^dftly right across, and just
beneath, the surface. I have watched
them for years and have never seen a fish,
or found any one who has traced tliem
to fish, so 1 conclude that the movements
are not, in fact, to be so explained. I
should like to see the subject discussed.
All that I am certain about is, that when
these eccentricities are about, the basket
will not be full."

Most of those who have contributed to Weather and
this volume devote their remarks to the ^^ ^ ^"^*
salmon and trout, while a few say some-
thing of pike and coarse fish. To sea-
fishing the references are few. Had the
effects of weather on the fisherman,
rather than on the fish, been under dis-
cussion, sea-fishing must, for obvious and
disagreeable reasons, have assumed a far
more important place. As it is, hoAvever,
even the marine fishes sought by the
amateur dwell in most cases at depths
commonly regarded as lying beyond the
influence of atmospheric changes. This,

52 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

however, is far from being the case. Two
correspondents thus state their somewhat
divergent views on the subject : —

Writing of sea-fishing off the Isle of
Man, Professor Boyd Dawkins considers
that "the question of fight is the most
important. This is largely due to the
fact that fish can see the line if there be
plenty of light. The temperature of the
water is another important factor in the
question of fish biting or not. I do not
think that the wind afffects their mood,
except by ruffling the surface and thus
confusing the light below. I doubt
whether the fog exerts any influence,
except by obscuring the light. The fish,
in my opinion, feed after intervals of rest
and at different states of the tide at
different places. ... As a rule, the fish
feed best on the first two hours of the
flood in the seas round the Isle of Man."

On the other hand, the Rev. W. A.
Mathews writes with reference to his
experiences of bays on the bold York-
shire coast : —

INTRODUCTION 58

" Sea-fish seem to feel the same influ-
ences of the winds as their brothers in
the shallower waters of streams, and
will bite freely when a W. or S.W.
wind is blowing, though they will touch
nothing when the breezes are from N.
or E., even at depths where it might
be thought that the wind could not
make itself felt."

John Bickerdyke thus sums up his John
views on the question :— BickerdykCs

*■ views.

"So far as salmon fishing is concerned,
the best weather is that which gives the
best light and the best water. That is
to say, we first of all want rain to rise the
water and make the fish run ; then a less
quantity of rain to keep the river steady
and up to a certain level, when the fish
usually take. Salmon take badly when
the river is rising rapidly or falHng rapidly.
The light, too, is most important, the fish
apparently not seeing the fly, or not caring
to see it when the clouds are very low and
the sky is much overcast. A bright sky,
on the other hand, is bad, because prob-

54 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

ably the fish see the gut and that the
fly is an artificial production, and not
something good to eat or worthy of attack.
It follows that ideal salmon fishing con-
ditions are none too common.

" When fly - fishing for trout, un-
doubtedly the best weather is that which
produces the largest number of natural
flies on the water. Sea-trout feed all the
more readily if there is rain causing a
slight freshet, or when the water is clear-
ing a little after a big one. Trout dislike
bright sunlight combined with clear calm
water, and at such times usually retire to
shady places. But I have caught them
many times when the sun has been bright
by fishing fine and upstream.

" For grayling fishing, notliing beats a
slightly frosty night followed by a calm,
mild, hazy day.

"In pike fishing there seems no par-
ticular rule as to the weather, but the fish
are most voracious after a spell of thick
water, during which they presumably
have not been able to get much food, for

INTRODUCTION 55

they hunt by sight and are then in the
position of a greyhound having to catch
a hare in a thick fog. On lakes and still
reaches, wind decidedly helps the angler.
For coarse fish generally, the weather
which gives abundance of water in a river
without it being too thick is usually
good, provided that fishing is bad, as a
rule, during storms. Nothing seems to
bring the fish more steadily on the feed
than a long spell of settled weather if the
water is not too low. Roach, however,
always bite best after rain, as do perch.
In summer, chub and gudgeon take best
in fine sunny weather. IModern perch,
though generally hungry, are shy and
cautious to a degree. Like pike, they
take best after a tliick flood and probably
for the same reason.

" Sea -fish do not seem to me to be
influenced by weather as much as by the
state of the tide, and by the abundance or
scarcity of food on their feeding-ground.
Storms seem to drive them away from
the coast ; but bass are to be caught in-

56 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

shore in the open sea in thick water
after such disturbances."

The moral of ^^ the testimony collected in the
this book. following chapters may be condensed
into one piece of advice it is, that the
angler should never be discouraged from
trying his luck by any weather condition
condemned by the text-books, but should
persist in the face of apparently hopeless
circumstances. A too careful attention
to the face of the sky may at times
baulk the over - cautious fisherman of
what might, by trusting a little more to
luck, have been a red-letter day. In
support of this advice the following pages
contain many anecdotes, yet none per-
haps more striking than the following, for
which I am indebted to Mr. Russell. As
it concerns so eminent a fisherman as the
late Francis Francis, it may possibly have
appeared in print elsewhere ; if so, I
reproduce it here with apologies. Mr.
Francis was fishing Loch Lomond with
Mr. Brown, late Secretary of the Loch

INTRODUCTION 57

Lomond Angling Association, and one
day, when the sky was flecked with
white clouds, and a cold, hard wind
blew on the surface of the loch, they
agreed that fishing under such conditions
would be folly, and therefore stayed
away from the water. Other anglers,
with less experience to warn them, went
forth, in spite of conditions obviously
unfavourable to expert eyes, and though
no trout (the chief fish of the loch, and
the one, no doubt, to which Mr. Francis's
doubts referred) were caught, it proved
to be one of the best salmon days of the
season. This little story illustrates at once
the importance of the fisherman trying
his luck in all weathers and the indiffer-
ence of salmon to conditions of wind and
weather that adversely affect trout. The
fact is, the angler never knows his luck
on even the most unpromising of days.
The Bishop Suffragan of Swansea, who
has fished these thirty years in the Towy
and other Welsh rivers, tells me that his
best salmon, a 24 lb. fish, was hooked

58 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

"on a very bright sunny morning, when
it was almost hopeless to expect anything.
But my fly was carried by the stream
quite under a bush, and there the fish
was hooked."

" It must," writes Sir Henry Seton-
Karr, " have happened to all salmon-
fishermen occasionally to flog good water,
well stocked with fish, in good order, and
under apparently perfect weather condi-
tions, to no purpose whatever. On the
other hand, I have killed chance salmon
on the Erne in July, in clear, smooth
water, under a blazing sun, which shone,
however, upstream and not down ; that
is to say, from behind the fish, and not in
their eyes. Also, I have killed them in a
snowstorm, on the Eden, in April. I am
almost inclined to the bold assertion that,
if the salmon are there, and not too intent
on running, but settled for the time in a
pool, there is always some hope of a rise,
w^hatever weather conditions prevail — that
is, of course, provided the fly is cannily
chosen of a size to suit the depth and

INTRODUCTION 59

colour of the water, and artistically thrown
over the fish."

It is therefore of great importance that
the fisherman who would be successful
should persist in the teeth of the elements;
that he should go forth undismayed and
stay by the water as long as he can see to
fish.

"A successful fisherman," writes Dr.
Foakes-Jackson, "must not be given to
too much observation of the conditions of
the weather. It is as true of fishhig as it
is of agriculture : ' He that observeth the
wind shall not sow, and he that regardeth
the clouds shall not reap.' Not to go out
fishing because the day is not a likely one
is a fatal mistake. There are, of course,
certain climatic conditions under which
it is impossible to catch fish ; but the
weather, as a rule, changes so frequently
and so rapidly that it is generally worth
waiting for these to alter. Often under
apparently perfect conditions no fish stirs,
and the only thing to be done is to fish on
till a chance comes. There is a loch in

60 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

Ross-shire on which the fish are said
never to rise well. Nevertheless, if a
man knows the water and is prepared to
work hard all day, he can generally fill
his basket. This is true of most lochs."

With regard to the reluctance of trout
to rise " under apparently perfect condi-
tions," I recollect one August day on
Loch Etive, when I fished for hours in
company with Mr. Mayo Robson, who,
along with the Craig shooting, held fishing
rights in the Noe and Liver, both of
which fall into that beautiful loch. The
prevailing weather, a strong westerly
wind and unceasing fine rain, was locally
regarded as perfect, yet the fish were
obdurate, and only a few very small
individuals rose, spasmodically and mostly
short. Yet on the day before, with
bright sunshine and not a ripple on the
surface — anything, in short, but promising
conditions — I had found small sea -trout
rising freely.

The whole moral of this book, then, is
to persist. As one correspondent says :

INTRODUCTION 61

"Provided the river is not in flood, and
given the presence of fish in season and
stream enough to carry the fly, no
weather conditions should altogether
damp the ardour or destroy the hope
of the salmon-fisherman."

The undoubted weather -lore of trout,
at any rate in some localities, is an
additional argument in favour of remain-
ing by the waterside, since, even if the
conditions be unfavourable at the moment,
the sensitive fish may be aware of a
coming change for the better, unsus-
pected by the fisherman, and feed accord-
ingly just when he would by all his rules
expect them most to sulk. As Major
Wynn Eyton says : " Trout may have
certain times and conditions for feeding,
but a sudden change in the weather may
upset the rule." Any sort of change, in
fact, may bring luck to the salmon-angler.
Mr. Conner relates how, on a dull, cloudy
day in July, on the Bandon River — an
abrupt change after a bright, dry spell,
with no fish taking — five fish were

62 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

killed, though there was no rise in the
water.

"The man," so another correspondent
puts it, " with plenty of time and patience
will often catch fish at unexpected times,
whereas he who only goes to the river at
the most favourable times, and rushes
away if the fish are not feeding, often
misses the rise altogether. The latter
may be a better fisherman, but the more
patient man will get the fish in the end."

It is quite useless to sit idle on the
chance of better things to come. It is
better, indeed, to stay away from the river
altogether than to wait on fortune on the
banks without putting your tackle to-
gether. Those beginners who have been
taught to regard certain kinds of wind
and weather as hopeless for fishing may,
if they have the patience to turn the
following pages, take heart from the cases
of success, sometimes even of record bags,
under precisely these forbidding condi-
tions, and may be encouraged to try con-
clusions with the hope of results as

INTRODUCTION 68

satisfactory. The essence of success is
perseverance in defiance of such real or
imaginary drawbacks. "Ye'U no catch
fush," quoth Mr. Coleridge's gillie, putting
the case in a nutshell, " wi' your fly on
the bank " !

CHAPTER I

SUNSHINE

I. Light. — Effect on the colour of the water — On the
sight of fishes — How far can a fish see ? — Fish dazzled
by sunlight — Use of torches in sea-fishing — Evidence
in favour of sunshine — A good day on Loch Assynt —
Two deadly methods of trout fishing — Conflicting
opinions — Sunshine an advantage in cold weather and
spring fishing — Its influence varies according to season
— A blazing day on the Tweed — Two successes in sun-
shine on the Torridon ; another on the Bann River
— Rainbow-trout in Minnesota — Advantage of sun and
cloud alternately — Rivers on which sunshine is fatal
— Lochs of the Outer Hebrides — Other small lakes
— Curious mistrust of gut — Special considerations of
sunset.

n. Heat. — Direct and indirect influence of heat — Exces-
sive drought a bar to fishing — Case of India — Trout
in lakes — Loch Lomond — Various opinions— Difficulty
of generalising — Hot weather favourable in the
eastern counties ; in Norway ; for pike in a reservoir ;
for char in Loch Tay — Mahseer may sulk in hot
weather — Other fish lethai-gic — Importance of tem-
perature of water being higher than temperature
of air.

In most human beings there is implanted
some survival of pagan sun-worship, nor

64

SUNSHINE 65

are the latest discoveries of the therapeutic
magic worked by the sun's rays Hkely to
lessen our faith in that source of all
natural light and heat. Those of us who
have in the Great Desert cowered from
his fierceness under burnouse or tent may
also have feared it, but the instinctive
reverence for the sun is not altered. Yet,
agreeable though its warmth and bright-
ness makes indulgence in any outdoor
pursuit, the sun is not invariably a friend
to the fisherman, who always fears its
light, as betraying his guile, and some-
times also has reason to resent its heat, as
spoiling either the condition of the water
or the appetites of the fish.

I. Light

Although, as will presently be shown,
a number of experienced anglers attach
great importance to the effect of tempera-
ture, chiefly, of course, as affecting the
hatch of fly on the water, it is generally
agreed that light is an all - important
influence in many kinds of angling.

66 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

In considering the part played by light,
it is necessary to take into account the
colour of the water and the range of
vision in fishes.
Effect on Most fishermen, and those particularly

thewateT" ^^^ havc sought their sport on lakes,
must at times have noticed strange and
even inexplicable tints in the water, which
may be perfectly clear and not discoloured
with peat or any other familiar substance.
That these hues, blue or black, are directly
responsible for bad sport is improbable.
They must be regarded rather, as Mr. Earl
Hodgson would say, as symptomatic of
some condition, or set of conditions, un-
determined, but realised as prejudicial.
General Dalton recalls that in all his
salmon fishing in both Canada and Nor-
way he never liked " a black look in the
water, which sometimes results from
special atmospheric conditions. Often
when thunder is imminent, or in stormy
and unsettled weather, one gets the water
in an unsatisfactory black state."

This blackness is not a question of

SUNSHINE 67

depth, like the darker blue of deep sea
water, or the dark colour of Highland
lochs, which Stewart considered of assist-
ance in concealing the fisherman's tackle.
It seems to depend rather on reflections.

" For lake-fishing," writes Mr. Beale
Adams, wlio, as an artist, naturally studies
this aspect of the ruling conditions,
*' colour seems an important point to me.
I do not mean peat stain, or anything of
that sort, but sky reflections. My fishing
days are simply determined by whether 1
think the water a good colour." Another
artist sends me an opinion on a somewhat
different effect of light on the details of
fishing. Mr. Dendy Sadler, who has a
special corner in the fisherman's sanctum,
is a firm believer in the old maxim, " A
dull day, a bright fly ; a bright day, a dull
fly," which is, however, on some well-
known waters, advisedly reversed in
practice.

That these colours of the water are not
themselves hostile to fish taking the fly,
but are rather a case of Mr. Earl Hodg-

of fishes.

68 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

son's symptoms, is sufficiently clear at any
rate in the case of the Torridon, which,
Mr. Coleridge says, is usually hopeless for
fishing when the water is blue and clear
from melting snow. The italics are mine,
but the evidence clearly shows that lack
of sport has nothing to do with blue water,
but depends solely on the hostile influence
of snow-broth (see Chapter III.), of which
that hue is but the outward symbol.

On the sight When wc comc to a consideration of
how far fishes can see, and how, precisely,
they view a fly or other object alighting
on the surface, we have to speculate with
very meagre data. We do not even
know for certain whether a salmon lying
at the bottom of a pool can see an angler
standing on the bank unless his shadow

How far can falls ou the Water. We surmise, indeed,
from internal evidence that it can. Yet
it has been contended, even, I believe,
demonstrated, by a German anatomist
that a salmon cannot see farther under
water than six inches, measured horizon-
tally. What the fisherman, however, has

a fish see ?

SUNSHINE 69

to consider for practical purposes is the
range at which a fish can see an object
interposed overhead between it and the
sun or sky. Even if six inches be the
very modest horizon of the salmon under
water, it will rise at a fly from the bottom
of a pool many times that depth. The
effect of an insufficiently or excessively
illuminated background may be such as
to magnify or reduce its size, distort its
shape, and obscure its colouring, the last
to such an extent as to render the fish to
all intents and purposes colour-blind.
Extremes of light may be equally un-
favourable to salmon fishing ; for, with an
overcast sky and low clouds, the fish either
do not, or will not, see the fly, and, on the
other hand, given a bright sky, they may
see too much.

The view commonly held as to the Fish dazzled
effect of bright light is that it frustrates ^ *"" *^
the angler's purpose by betraying himself
and his tackle to the fish — an opinion that,
no doubt, receives support from the
success which often under such conditions

70 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

attends the use of small flies and fine
tackle. There is, however, an alternative
possibility which we must reckon with,
and this is the dazzling of the fish by the
sun shining full in its eyes. These, as Sir
Herbert Maxwell reminds me, are unpro-
tected by lids, and are therefore peculiarly
susceptible to the glare. Dazzling may
operate in one of two ways. It may pre-
vent the fish from seeing even the lure,
and with salmon which are not actually
feeding, but merely rising in half-hearted
and wanton fashion at the fly, this is in
all likelihood its effect. On the other
hand, with fish like the bass, of which I
have caught all my best in gin-clear water
and glaring July weather, it may just
dazzle the fish to the extent of hiding the
tackle and hook. The bass has no ambi-
tion to ascend to the higher reaches of
the river so long as it finds abundance of
sand-eels and other fry in the estuary,
and it is not therefore so easily baulked of
its meal as the salmon.

As was, however, said above, our know-

SUNSHINE 71

ledge of the sight of fishes and of the Use of
precise effect which natural or artificial se^fishim?
light may exercise upon their eyes is for
the most part guesswork. In some seas,
for example, in which I have fished, torch-
light is largely employed by night, with
the object of keeping the shoal of mackerel
or other fish round the boats. This im-
plicit faith in the attractiveness of a flare
hung over the bow is shared by Spanish,
Portuguese, and Italians, all of whom are
efficient fishermen, and I have felt the
benefit of the practice in different parts of
the Mediterranean, as well as on the coast
of Madeira.

Mr. Brown has, however, come to a
different conclusion with regard to arti-
ficial illumination as an aid to fishing in
the sea. " I have," he writes, " when pull-
ing about in shallow water, put a torch over
the bow of the boat, and seen fish quietly
swimming about below, not minding the
boat or flare. After fishing for sea-bream
one evening in fourteen fathoms, getting
moderate sport, the fish ceased taking at

72 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

dark, and I put down an electric lamp to
try if it would light them to their supper
or otherwise attract them. None took a
bite at all, and I concluded that in this
case perhaps the light scared them away,
as its glow might suggest the phosphor-
escence caused by the movements of some
large fish, potentially an enemy." Mr.
Brown's inference of his submarine lamp
suggesting the proximity of a shark or
hake is ingenious, but the case of a torch
suspended over the water cannot be
regarded as analogous, as light from such a
source must certainly have a different
effect from that of a lamp under water.
At any rate, I satisfied myself of the bene-
ficial effect of the flare on mackerel and
scad, off Funchal, on more than one
April night, by trying, always without
success, to catch even a single fish on
the dark side of the boat. I was further
convinced that these fish fed much
nearer the surface in the artificial torch-
light than they had done before sundown
in the natural light of day. To catch

SUNSHINE T8

them at all by daylight, it is neces-
sary to plunge nearly the whole bamboo
rod vertically under water — a curious
position according to our ideas, but one
with which a very little practice ensures
familiarity. At first, indeed, I resented
this injunction, with the result that I
caught nothing, while natives in the same
boat jerked a fish on board every few
seconds. As soon as the torches are all
alight, the joint illumination of fifty or
sixty boats anchored every evening on
the same ground brings the fish so close
to the surface that the rods may be used
in the ordinary way.

Although bright sunshine is, on the
whole, regarded in no friendly way by
fishermen, some of the evidence of my
correspondents indicates that it is, con-
ditionally or otherwise, an advantage
with salmon, and sometimes also with
trout. Its influence even varies accord-
ing to place and season, and whereas it
is found to favour sport in the eastern
counties and in spring salmon -fishing,

74 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

Evidence in
favour of
sunshine.

A good day
on Loch
Assynt.

elsewhere and at other times of the year
it is less welcome. Even those, how-
ever, who would rather under normal
conditions have a dull day, admit ex-
ceptional cases of good sport in dazzling
sunlight.

Sir George Brown boldly asserts that
all his best days with trout have been in
sunshine and east wind. This is perhaps
the most unqualified praise bestow^ed,
although Mr. Sheringham prefers sunny
days for perch and grayling, and it also
suits General Dal ton best with clear
water for fishing with worm or shrimp,
though necessarily with very fine tackle.
"The best trouting day," writes Prof.
Burkitt, "that we had during the season
of 1905 was a bright day with a fair wind,
23rd Aug. We were on the Skaig beat
of Loch Assynt, and the water was so
clear and blue that it was hard to believe
that a fish could fail to see the cast as
well as the fly. But we caught some
dozen while this bright time lasted (about
1 to 3.30), the largest a two-pounder.

SUNSHINE 75

Several other good baskets of trout were
made that day."

Sir Henry Pottinger refers to two Two deadly
deadly modes of catching trout in hot ™out°fishinc
weather, not very far removed from
poaching, and indeed interdicted on some
waters reserved for the fly, yet very
tempting when not a fish can be moved
by more sporting means. Both of these
may be said to depend on sunshine in
great measure for their success. The
first of them is upstream worm-fishing,
which is most successful on the hottest
and brightest days, with the water very
low and clear. " In this style, which is
in vogue among professional fishermen
in the north of England, the fisherman
wades cautiously up the bed of the
stream, and, with a rather stiff rod, flicks
his bait a short distance in front of him,
letting it run down with the current."
The other style, likewise helped by heat
and sunshine, is known as "shade-fish-
ing," in which, during the hottest days,
" the angler creeps along the bank of the

76 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

river, concealing himself behind bushes
and tree-trunks, and drops into the deep
holes a minnow artistically impaled on a
hook with a leaded shank. The bait is
then repeatedly drawn nearly to the
surface and allowed to dive again. By
it the old trout, which are lurking in the
deep water under the bank, are attracted
to their doom and must, when they have
taken the minnow, be allowed to gorge it
quietly for some minutes " !
Conflicting Evcu thosc who, uudcr given con-

opinions. ditions, either prefer or tolerate sunshine,
differ in many matters of detail, as the
two following remarks illustrate : —

" I do not mind sunshine when fishing
a lake for trout, pj^ovided the s^m is not
directly facing me and there is a good
breeze to ruffle the water." (C. E. M. E.)

" In bright sunshine, provided the angler
ha^ the sun in his face, so that the shadow
of his rod and line do not fall on the
water, sport is frequently excellent."
(H. A. R.)

The italics are my own.

SUNSHINE 77

Most of those who favour bright sun-
shine for their fishing qualify their prefer-
ence with some sort of conditions. On
the Kent (A¥estmorland) and North
Tyne (Northumberland), for instance, Mr.
Bagot says that the afternoon sun alone
puts down salmon and sea -trout, even
after a good rise, the morning sun being
less prejudicial to sport. Mr. Gathorne-
Hardy has no objection to bright sun-
shine if the water is dirty. Mr. Conner,
writing of the Bandon River, prefers it
indeed in conjunction with a high wind,
but without any wind at all experience
has shown him that it is usually fatal It
seems, moreover, that sunshine may be
better for the fisherman in a low than in
a high temperature. This at any rate is
the opinion of Sir John Edwards -Moss, Sunshine an
who thinks it an advantacre in cold advantage m

o cold weather

weather, when the water is on the big and spring
side, though generally hopeless in warm
weather and low water. In very early
spring, when the fish are perhaps less
critical of tackle than they are later in

78 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

the year, he also regards sunshine as
"ahnost a good condition." In frost,
also, he thinks that it may improve the
angler's chances.

Salmon also rise well at times in
bright sun in the Sand River, and JMr.
Dodd not merely prefers bright sun to
white clouds, but has found it no bar to
good sport when dry-fly fishing for both
trout and grayling.
Its influence That the influence of sunshine varies,
vanes accor - ^^ abovc suffiJfested, with the time of year

ing to season. oo ' J

is only perhaps what we should expect.
Dr. Charles Chree writes that, "in the
streams of West Forfarshire and East
Perthshire, trout take the worm very
readily in bright sunshine in the month
of June, so long as the angler uses fine
gut and fishes from his knees, so as to
keep out of sight." A month later, he
adds, it would under normal conditions
be exceedingly difficult to make a decent
catch. General O'Callaghan also says
something of these seasonal diffierences in
the part played by sunshine. "In the

SUNSHINE 79

Mayfly time," he writes, "the absence of
either cloud or sun seems to make little
difference. Given sufficient warmth to
hatch out the fly, fish rise just as freely
on a sunny as on a cloudy day. I have
made a good basket in June on an
absolutely cloudless day. At other times,
cloud with warmth is an advantage, since
it makes the gut of the casting line less
conspicuous ; and towards the end of the
hot weather the evening is the only time
of day when one can hope to rise fish.
In the early part of the season, sun is
a necessity, since without it no fly is
hatched. At that time, as well as in
September, I have always found that fish
rise best between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. As
with a dry-fly, I believe sun to be an
advantage in wet-fly fishing, both at the
beginning and at the end of the season.
In the hotter summer months, cloud is a
necessity, though, with a light upstream
wind, fine tackle, and one small fly, I have
made good baskets on many days, even
late in June,"

80 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

Many of those who recognise that
bright sun is more often than not a
handicap are able to quote exceptions
from their own experiences.
A blazing day Sir Herbert Maxwell, for instance, can
recall a day on the Tweed (29th Oct.
1891), with blazing sun, low water, and
hard frost. So brilliant was the light
that he could see fish lying in the Craig-
over Pool at Mertoun, and of his own
uninfluenced judgment he would in all
probability have left them where they
lay, thinking any endeavour to move
them hopeless. But his boatman per-
suaded him to put a small fly over them
on a very long line, with the result that
he hooked three fish and landed two,
respectively 18 lbs. and 16 lbs. He also
remembers the unexpected happening
with trout, and an odd big fish coming
to the creel in a blazing noon of summer
sunshine on a loch — a state of things in
which he would ordinarily counsel put-
ting off" fishing operations until nightfall.

Mr. Coleridge contributes an interest-

SUNSHINE 81

ing experience of two occasions, both of Two suc-
which he regards as exceptional, on which shineVn Se
he took salmon from the Torridon (Ross- Tomdon ;
shire) in blazing sunlight, and the ac-
companying conditions displayed, as will
be seen, some other differences, which
must be taken into account.

"The first was in a still, deep pool,
no ripple, water moderately thick, and
just after a cloud had passed away from
the sun at my back. I was fishing from
a low bank, where there are no trees, and
standing three or four yards back from
the edge. The other time was in a still,
shallow pool, so clear that I had just been
trying to see the fish lying on the bottom.
I put a fly into the ripple, just where the
stream flowed in at the head of the pool,
and a fish of about 12 lbs. came out four
times from my side of the bank. After
due rests, I hooked him at the fifth cast.
The sun was facing me, and though I
was hidden by the high bank, it seemed
as if the rod-top, line, cast, and hook
must be visible to the fish."

9

82 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

In the first of these cases, it will be
noticed that the sun was behind the
fisherman and that the water was both
deep and dirty. On the second occasion,
he had the sun in front, and the water
was shallow and clear. These details are
of importance in the light of what has
gone before,
another on Sir Thomas Esmondc recollects on one

the Bann • i -it • -, v

River occasion Killmg SIX or seven dozen brown

trout on the Bann River, near Gorey,
one day in March, in bright sunshine and
a north wind. There are, in fact, numer-
ous instances of success in sunshine. The
late Canon Beechey wrote to me not long
before his death that, while he considered
a bright day, with blue sky and roving
wool-pack clouds, the very worst for fly-
fishing, he had known other anglers,
fishing in some favoured spot, do well
under such conditions. Sir James Fergus-
son has more than once, to his own sur-
prise, with fine tackle and small flies,
caught salmon on sunny days, with little
breeze, and Mr. Sheild has also taken

SUNSHINE 88

them with a March Brown and other
trout-flies, even in low, bright water and
hot sun, with fish jumping in the pools —
the kind of day that he ordinarily regards
as hopeless.

As regards trout, which are stay-at- Rainbow-
home animals, a good deal depends on Minnesota.
the extent of their education in the ways
of the fisherman. Sir Henry Seton-Karr
once made a fine basket of rainbow-trout
in a private fishery, not far from Minne-
apolis, in calm, clear water on a sunny
August day. He would not have thought
such a result possible, and fished only to
oblige his American friends, who were
sanguine of success.

Whatever objections fishermen may Advantage of

1 1 . /» . , • sun and cloud

have learnt irom experience to raise alternately
agamst sunshine, there seems to be no
doubt whatever about a condition of alter-
nating sun and shade, with gleams between
passing clouds, being particularly favour-
able to sport, and preferable even to
uniform dulness of the sky. What pre-
cisely may be the effect of such chopping

84 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

and changing of the light on the vision of
fishes we cannot know, but the results, as
measured by the catch, are almost invari-
ably satisfactory. The following are
some extracts from letters touching on
the point : —

"Late in March, or early in April, I
have supposed gleams of sunshine to have
encouraged fish to take the fly, but this
may have only meant that it rendered the
artificial fly more visible, or else that it
may have brought out the natural fly in
sufficient numbers to make it worth while
for the trout to turn their attention in
that direction." (C. C.)

" Sunshine, broken, is good on the
Bucks Chess and Coin." (J. J. D.)

" Bright intervals of sunshine are good
for loch-trout in Orkney. If generally
bright, a passing cloud will often make
the fish take. \i generally dull, a glint of
sun has the same effect." (A. M. S. G.)

" Trout-fishing in the Loch of Girlsta
(Shetland) is better for occasional bright
glimpses of sunshine, as well as in Ting-

A SMALL BUT GOOD POOL

SUNSHINE 85

wall. With other Shetland lochs, where
the land around is high, sunshine at
the angler's back is always fatal."
(J. S. T.)

"For fly-fishing, sunshine should be
pale and fitful." (W. M. G.)

*' For practically all fish other than
grayling, carp, bream, tench, and perch, I
like April weather, sun chasing clouds,
clouds compelling sun." (H. T. S.)

On some waters, however, it seems that
sunshine is generally, if not invariably,
fatal to sport, particularly if combined
with some other condition of wind or
cloud. The following are cases : —

For spring salmon in Scotland generally Rivers on
when combined with east wind (C- E. D.), shine irfatai.
for salmon-fishing in the Tay (W. O. D.),
and, with white fleecy clouds, for the
Aberdeenshire Dee (R. T. C). Between
10 A.:\r. and 2 p.m. it is considered, except
in rough and broken water, fatal to sport
in the streams and smaller rivers of Banft-
shire (J. C), and scarcely more hopeful,
even ^vith a good breeze, for lake-fishing

86 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

Lochs of the

Outer

Hebrides.

Other small
lakes.

in Donegal (W. E.-J.). Except in short,
strong runs, it also renders fishing hope-
less in the Upper Tawe, Carmarthenshire
(W. W. F.), and as a rule it also puts a
stop to trout fishing on Loch Leven
(W. R.).

" In the lochs of the Outer Hebrides,"
writes Major Boulton, " it is seldom any
good fishing for salmon in bright sun-
light. Out of over 200 caught in three
seasons in a loch in the Lewes, I do not
think that more than a dozen were caught
when the sun was out, and these were all
small fish." Of sea-trout, on the other
hand, he and a friend took upwards of 500
in one season in the Lewes, and under
all conditions, but the best baskets were
always made on dull days.

That bright sunshine is more fatal in
small, still lakes than in running water is
only what we should expect. Sir Douglas
Brooke tells me that he has a small lake
on his grouse mountain so crammed with
very small trout that he has before now,
" without fishing very energetically," killed

SUNSHINE 87

twelve dozen of them in a day. Yet,
even with such greedy hordes in the
water, bright sunshine effectually puts an
end to sport, and not a trout can be
caught in it. Mr. Black writes that it is
likewise hopeless to fish during sunny
weather in a small artificial loch, well
stocked with Loch Levens, a few miles
from Edinburgh.

If these coincidences of sunshine and Curious
bad sport are to be attributed wholly to '^"^^
the fierce light thrown on the fisherman's
gut, it is very singular, when one comes
to think of it, that the fish, which take no
notice of leaves, straws, even branches
and coarser flotsam, should be so sus-
picious of even thick gut. It might be
thought that even the reel - line would
pass muster side by side with such natural
objects, but for fine gut to inspire fear is
simply marvellous, and suggests a degree
of discrimination which is hardly in har-
mony with the organisation and sensi-
bilities of that class. Yet the fact that
when a breeze ruffles the surface of the

88 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

water a glaring sun is often no bar to
sport, seems to demonstrate that this
betrayal of the gut and hook is the only
explanation of a trout's aloofness in bright
light and still water, and that another
correspondent's view, that the service
rendered by the breeze is merely to stimu-
late the appetite of the fish, by oxygena-
tion, is untenable.

Before leaving the influence of sunlight,
something must be said of the special
condition of sunset, when the oblique and
failing rays appear to produce a different
effect from that of the earlier hours of
the day. The following opinions on sun-
set and kindred conditions of light are of
interest in this connection and illustrate
divergent views : —
Special con- *' I havc ucvcr succccdcd much in

siderations of , . , , , . . , , ... ,

sunset. bright sunshme with either salmon or

sewin ; ^ but when the sun goes down,
after a bright day in July or August, fish
will take weU." (C. E. M. E.)

^ I.e. sea-trout, the "peal" of Devonshire rivers
(F. G. A.).

SUNSHINE 89

" The sunset glow on the water, I find,
is very bad in sea-trout fishing. The
moon, on the contrary, would seem
favourable to night-fishing for sea-trout,^
at any rate on the Kent (Westmorland),
where I have done most of my night-
fishing." (R. B.)

" I had fished a stream in the south of
Ireland, which was full of small trout, all
day without success. It was a bright
day, not good for fly-fishing, and I could
only stir a few very small fish. Suddenly,
about an hour before sunset, the water
seemed to boil with fish. At each cast I
hooked one, or even two, as the flies were
seized the moment they touched the
water. This went on till my basket was
filled. The fish were exactly the same
weight, half a pound. The light was just
beginning to fade when this began, and it
was dark when I left off"." (A. D. C.)

" I have known salmon rise particularly
well when the sun is about setting and
the light is warm and oblique. It is little

^ Not for conger (F. G. A.).

90 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

use fishing in the Namsen River (Norway)
when the sun is glaring on the water. A
very favourable time is just as it is getting
dusk. I have had good sport harling
when it was nearly dark." (W. B.)

" Sunrise and sunset for carp, bream
and tench." (H. T. S.)

Direct and
indirect
influence
of heat.

II. Heat

"Extremes of temperature," writes
Mr. Bagot, " are bad ; great heat and a
miserably chilly day equally so."

In the few remaining pages of this
chapter on the connection between the
sun and fishing we must consider some
evidence of the effects, prejudicial or
otherwise, of high temperatures. The
part played by low temperatures, with
the outward symbols of frost and snow, is
discussed in Chapter III.

The influence of a high temperature

to fisi?* * ^^' may be threefold. It may, and generally

does, produce a hatch of insect food. It

may either stimulate or deaden — opinions

Excessive

SUNSHINE 91

are divided on the matter — the appetites
of the fish. Lastly, it may, hi that
excess which, combined with a low rain-
fall, means drought, put a stop to fishing
operations altogether. This last result is
less familiar in temperate lands than in
some hotter latitudes, where the fisher-
man, in common with every one else, is
more the sport of the sun than he would
be in England. The converse of this is
seen in colder countries, where, by ice
instead of by drought, a similar veto is
put on fishing by the other climatic ex-
treme. It is in India more particularly Caseot India,
that the angler is keenly sensitive to
these changes. There, the hot weather,
rains, and cold weather follow one another
in a monotonous succession year after
year, and with a precision unknown in
the English climate, the keynote of which
is constant surprise, mostly disagree-
able, for those who take their plea-
sure out of doors. In some districts of
that country the mahseer- fisherman has
to watch his opportunities very closely

92 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

after the falling of the rivers at the end of
the rains, for, though he has his best time
when the water clears, it may so rapidly
dry up that, after being in order for fish-
ing for a week or two, it again dwindles
to a series of isolated pools full of fish
that are as adamant to all the angler's
overtures.

Although the sun's heat means less to
every one in northern Europe than in
southern Asia, the influence of tempera-
ture on fish and fishing is by no means
to be ignored, and some fishermen indeed
consider it of first importance. It is on
lake-trout that its effect is perhaps most
noticeable. Writing of such, with refer-
ence to the Orkney lochs, Mr. Sutherland
Graeme says : —
Trout '* Loch-trout will not take if the water

is too warm, but I cannot say that 1 have
ever by thermometer tested the tempera-
ture at which they cease to rise. If there
is a period of great heat, such as I have
only known twice in Orkney, the fish
in my shallow lochs just lie gasping

in lakes.

SUNSHINE 98

with their heads on the reeds at the edge
of the loch. They can then be taken out
by hundreds with the hand — fine fish
too. I now dam up the loch in early
summer, so that the increased volume of
water keeps the loch cool and fishable.
Temperature will, I feel certain, guide
investigators to lots of new knowledge. I
am sure, for instance, that it is simply a
question of shoals of herrings swimming
about to try and find the exact tempera-
ture they want to spawn in. When found,
they stay and spawn."

Another interesting communication on
the subject of the manner in which
temperature affects trout in lakes reaches
me from Mr. Munro Edwards, and is as
follows : —

"Cold weather puts the trout down.
Therefore I have never liked an east wind
when fishing a lake for trout, regard-
ing south, or south-west, with a warmer
temperature, as better. There are, it is
true, some mountain llyns in the locality,^

^ Merionethshire.

94 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

which are considered only worth visiting
when the wind blows from an easterly
quarter, but this may merely be an acci-
dent of situation."
Loch The sun, as may be supposed, soon

warms the water of shallow lochs, as a
result of which the fisherman gets his
trout early and in good condition. Loch
Lomond is a case of a deep lake, and
quantities of snow-water run into it from
the hills around. This makes it a late
loch, there being, as a rule, no rise of fly
until well on in May. Mr. Russell refers
to this as solely a matter of temperature.
"It appears to me," he writes, "simply
that the cold water retards the rise of fly
and the warm hastens it, and you do not
get trout unless there is a rise. I am
informed on excellent authority that,
curiously enough, the head -waters of
the streams in southern Perthshire are
usually best for trout, owing to the fact
that the water at their source is warmer
than after exposure to the atmosphere, and
consequently there is more insect food."

SUNSHINE 95

Other opinions might be cited in sup- Various
port of the importance of temperature in ^p^"'"""-
different kinds of fishing. Mr. Wheeley,
writing chiefly of the Thames and Wey,
considers it all-important. The late Lady
Bridge, who had considerable experience of
salmon, was of opinion that that fish move
when the temperature is "just beginning
to change." Mr. G. Ashley Dodd reads
the thermometer and barometer together
thus : —

"A warm afternoon, turning to a cold
evening, puts salmon down completely on
the Thurso and is bad anywhere. A
sudden fall of the barometer (as it gener-
ally means a gale) sets salmon jump-
ing wildly, throwing themselves sideways,
when they do not notice fly much. A
fall of rain is rather good for salmon.
But for trout, and still more for grayling,
I like a rising barometer."

" Salmon," writes Mr. Barrington, ** will
not take well in hot weather, but cold
(unless when a frost first sets in) does not
affect them in the same way."

96 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

Though all those who have contributed
to this volume deprecate any attempt to
lay down hard and fast rules, several
regard it as peculiarly difficult to generalise
on this question of the temperature most
suitable for fishing.
Difficulty Sir Henry Seton-Karr contrasts the

ising. successful Spring salmon - fishing on the

Dee and Thurso, with ice on the banks,
as well as the autumn season on the
Tweed under similar conditions, with the
midsummer sport enjoyed on many a
salmon -river in Ireland or in Norway.
Mr. Gallichan is equally at a loss to
formulate any rule, seeing that he has
caught trout, after sunset in April, in an
atmospheric temperature below 32°, and
also, during July, in a temperature of 80°
in the shade.
Hot weather It sccms that hot wcathcr is more

favourable in/. -ii. _oi- • j-.-.

the eastern tavourablc to hshmg m some districts

counties; than in others. In the eastern counties

for instance, thanks perhaps to the tonic

effects of a bracing climate, trout retain

their appetite through the hottest summer.

SUNSHINE 97

"On a broiling July day," writes ISIr.
Hall of a small preserved trout-stream in
Norfolk that he has fished for many
years, " when fishing in any south country
trout-stream would be out of the question,
fish will rise madly, and are far more easily
taken than at sunset. It is well known
that trout are more easily approached
under such conditions, but unfortunately
they are not normally feeding then, ex-
cept in the Mayfly season."

Mr. Bryden is among the most enthu- in Norway ;
siastic advocates of hot-weather fishing as
a result of some successes under such con-
ditions. " In Norway," he writes, " I
have found hot, settled weather good for
trouting ; indeed, I have known the heat
so tropical, especially in June 1893, that
for a spell we did most of our fishing
between 7 and 12 p.m. . . . On a day of
clear intense heat I once had one of the
finest days with pike that I remember, for pike in a
It was on a large and ancient Warwick- ^^^^^^°^^'^
shire reservoir, and we killed a brace of
8 lbs. each, within a minute or two one of

98 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

for char in
Loch Tay.

Mahseer may
sulk in hot
weather.

Other fish
lethargic.

the other, having hooked them simul-
taneously. We also took about six or
eight others, running from 4 lbs. to 9 lbs.
Char I have taken freely on one or two
occasions in Loch Tay in August durhig
fine, hot, settled weather."

With reference to mahseer, to which
allusion was made in the Introduction in
connection with Colonel Bairnsfather's
ingenious "normal weather" theory, and
which is generally regarded as feeding
best in the ordinary hot, sunny weather
of India, an exception must be made
to even this rule. Lieut. -Colonel H. H.
Godwin-Austen tells me that he has seen
mahseer in the large pools of the Rajawrie
Tawi rolling over and jumping out of
water on a hot evening, but that no fly
would tempt them.

" Hot sun and continuous still, dry
weather," writes Major Wynn Eyton,
"will heat up the water and make the
trout sick and lethargic."

Mr. Gallichan is of opinion that the
majority of coarse fish, with the possible

SUNSHINE 99

exception of carp and bream, are sleepy
on the hottest days between 11 a.m. and

6 P.M.

" I beheve," writes Sir John Edwards-
Moss, "that salmon are very much influ-
enced by temperature. See how they lie
in the stream in hot weather and right
down at the still tails of the pools in very
cold water. Also note how they will take
a huge fly in very cold water and require
a tiny one to move them in very hot
weather."

Major Eyton thinks that trout "are importance
more affiected as to their appetites by JureSvp^er
temperature than by actual weather, and being higher

than tempera-
it does not seem that any hard and fast ture of air.

rule can be made in either case. For
instance, a good many years ago I was
fishing the River Bride (Co. Water-
ford). The first day (3rd April) it was
snowing hard nearly all day, but I caught,
with the artificial fly, twenty-seven brown
trout, weighing 1 1 lbs. 3 oz. : flies, March
Brown, Hare's Ear, and February Red.
Next day, very fine and warm ; no rise.

100 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

and only got three small fish with worm.
The river rose about six inches in the
night after snow and was slightly dis-
coloured. In this case it seems pretty
certain that on the first day the air was
cold, but the water warm. On the second
day the water was cold, owing to melted
snow, but the air was warm."

This relation between the temperature
of the water and that of the atmosphere is
in all probability the determining factor
far more than the absolute temperature
of the water without reference to other
conditions. This is suggested at any rate
by several other statements in the corre-
spondence on the subject. Thus, Mr.
Sheringham notes that so long as the
water is warmer than the air, hail and
snow need not put an end to sport. JNIr.
Rolt says that, though the air be pier-
cingly cold, yet, if the water be a few
degrees higher, roach will bite well ; but
with the air warmer than the water little
sport may be looked for. Mr. Wheeley
explains the readiness with which roach

SUNSHINE 101

feed late in the summer evenings by the
fact that the temperature of the water is
then higher than that of the air.

Lastly, to a similar condition may be
attributed the result of a good day's trout
fishing enjoyed by Prof. Burkitt on Loch
Fewn, Sutherland, 9th Sept. 1905. "It
was," he writes, "quite cold and raining
hard for a good part of the time, but the
water felt warm when you put your
hand in."

CHAPTER II

OF RAIN AND INCIDENTALLY OF HAIL
AND SLEET

You must abear the smart, ray boys,
Be it hail, or rain, or snow.

Hughes.

Discomfort of fishing in rain — Mr. Senior catches grayling
in bad weather — Rain bad for dry-fly fishing — Clouds,
rain and hail: various effects of rain — (a) Clouds —
— " Michelmore's cloud" — (6) Rain — Raindrops on
the surface — Mr. Earl Hodgson's view — Rain good
for salmon and for trout ; also in lake-fishing —
Experience of Mr. Sheild — A case on Loch Leven
— Rain on the Berwickshire Blackadder — Weight or
opinion adverse to heavy rain — Discoloration of the
water — Fatal yellow flood — Moss- water prejudicial to
sport — Bass in muddy water — Level of the ^Vater in
Floods — Rising water bad for salmon — Best level for
salmon fishing — On the rivers of Leinster — On the
Bandon River — On the Tweed — Different effects on
salmon and trout — Lord Breadalbane's note on the
Orchy — Lord Montagu of Beaulieu on sea-trout
in tidal reaches — Thames trout — General effects of
flood and drought on salmon and sea-trout — Sir Roper
Lethbridge on Dartmoor trout — (c) Hail and Sleet —
Hail no bar to sport — Alleged habit of mahseer— Mr.
102

RAIN, HAIL, AND SLEET 103

Buxton dislikes hail — Others less hostile — Mr. Sheild
prefers it for spring fishing — A curious experience on
the Esk— Other opinions favourable to hail and sleet
— Advantage of alternate sunshine and rain.

There is a school of sportsmen which Discomfort

1 n J n n n I' of fishing in

regards an aJleged preierence tor nshing j-j^jq
in dirty weather as the stamp of true
sportsmanship. "Alleged" rather than
real, because such professions of indiffer-
ence to climatic discomfort are probably
as little sincere as the assurance of those
who go on the sea for pleasure that they
find no enjoyment in smooth weather.
Here and there, no doubt, it might be
possible to find a joyless temperament
capable of preferring Nature in her un-
couth moods, but the normal human
being is for her smiles.

It is not, however, from this point of
view that the prospects of sport on a
wet day will be discussed in the present
chapter.

It is assumed that the fisherman is
sufficiently protected, or otherwise in-
different, to start out in a downpour, or
at any rate with the certainty of rain

104 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

before the day is out, and to remain at
his post in spite of it. What has to be
determined is the manner in which such
weather is likely to aiFect his chances.
Mr. Senior In aggravated cases the discomfort is

catches , . , ,

grayling in SO deprcssmg as to rob even an unex-

bad weather, pectcd succcss of its plcasurc. Mr. Senior

thus graphically describes a comfortless,

but not unproductive, September day on

the Exe, below Dulverton : —

" The weather was all that one wanted
it not to be. There were squalls that
roared with hoarse voices and rainstorms
that blurred the surface of the stream at
frequent intervals. But I was a couple
of miles from headquarters, fully equipped,
before the outburst came, and I braced
myself to the forlorn hope of fishing
steadily, come weal or woe, upstream and
homewards. I waded as near the left-
hand fringe of bushes as I could for
shelter, and, with a short line, cast a
small red quill straight ahead, fishing it
dry on the chance of rising a fish. There
was no appearance of any rise, even in

RAIN, HAIL, AND SLEET 105

those occasional lulls in which the blast
lay low to gather fury for the next
onslaught. Every angler knows the
monotonous eft'ect of this when nothing
happens. Your thoughts gradually go
abroad, and you swish on mechanically.
This I did for an hour, plodding up in
the troubled current. Then something
did happen. I was rudely recalled to
the work of the moment by a hooked
fish. It was a grayling too, not a silly
youngster, not even a rash "shott," as
we call the fish of that variety that has
not yet spawned, though almost mature ;
but an honest pounder, that knew the
ways of the world he swam in. Buffeted
by the north-wester, drenched with the
pelting rain, up and up I waded, dreeing
my weird as best I might for two hours,
keeping to my steady casting and to my
one fly, and leaving the fish to settle the
rest for themselves. A fish, caught here
and there, was a grim surprise rather than
a pleasure, and it was a distinct relief
when I saw that the road- washings had

106 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

left no choice but an abandonment of the
game. Under the lee of a moist haystack,
I got out of harness and counted out 5j
brace of grayling and trout. It may be
objected that by fishing downstream with
wet flies I should probably have caught
three times the quantity ; but this was
not so, for on the same day, higher up-
stream, two very good fishermen tried that
orthodox method with very indifferent
result, leaving me to insist on the reversal
of the accepted rules as regards both
weather and the floating fly, and to
draw the moral of perseverance in the
face of conditions to all appearance
hopeless."

This disagreeable experience is of in-
terest from more standpoints than one,
for, as the Editor of the Field points out
in the last sentence, it bears not only
upon the impossibility of laying down the
law in matters of fishing weather, but it
likewise strikes at a sacred canon of the
dry-fly fisherman, touching the hopeless-
ness of that method for grayling in

RAIN, HAIL, AND SLEET 107

blustering weather. Here is what Mr.
Buxton says on the subject : —

" The dry-fly has a reputation to keep Rain bad
up, and apparently refuses to do execution Ashing' ^
on a wet day, when there is water on its
back." Indeed, the Postmaster-General,
a recognised authority on this method,
whimsically extends the same dislike of
rain to the dry-fly trout, which, he writes,
"does not like getting wet; while on a
rainy day it is more difficult to spot the
rising fish and the fish not actually rising,
but ready to take."

Of moisture in the atmosphere there Clouds, rain
are five separate stages that may, each y^ji^^^ '
in its own fashion, affect the fisherman's eflFectsof

rain.

chances of sport. Of these, three only
are dealt with in the present chapter,
snow and fog being considered later.
Clouds, rain and hail have, however,
been taken together, not without some
risk of the evidence overlapping, particu-
larly in the often close connection between
hail and snow, but because some such
division was found necessary, and these

108 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

three phenomena are, on the whole, more
associated with certain seasons of the year
than any of them with snow, which belongs
more properly to the period of frost.

It is further necessary to subdivide the
influence of rain on failure or success in
fishing under, at any rate, three heads :
(1) The patter of raindrops on the surface,
which, either by concealing the tackle,
or, as some believe, by oxygenation, often
brings a rise ; (2) the discoloration of
the water in flood-time, which necessarily
hides the natural food supplies, and some-
times also the angler's lure, from those
fish which hunt their prey by sight ;
and (3) the level of the river, a most
important factor in salmon fishing, the
significance of which, though perfectly
appreciated, is but partially understood.
It will be seen from these preliminary
divisions of the subject that the con-
ditions discussed in the present chapter
are perhaps more complex in their origin
and effect than those dealt with in any
other.

RAIN, HAIL, AND SLEET 109

(a) Clouds

Clouds, as the embryonic stage of rain,
claim precedence, and only one com-
munication of importance has reached me
on the subject. The indirect effect of
clouds, in diminishing the illumination of
the background and thereby affecting the
fly -fisher's sport on dull days, may be re-
garded as the converse of sunshine, and
as such was incidentally considered under
the head of Light in the last chapter.
What has now briefly to be considered
is the more subtle influence of certain
clouds, which cannot, for reasons which
will be apparent in the quotation which
follows, be attributed to any mere effect
of the light. Though these clouds may
possibly modify the appearance of the fly,
it is far more likely that they are sympto-
matic of some atmospheric condition,
which makes the fish reluctant to feed.
It seems inconceivable that the presence
of a particular cloud on the sky-line should
so affect these creatures as to give them

110 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

a distaste for their food, yet this has for
so many years been Mr. Michelmore's ex-
perience of those white wool-pack clouds
of the Devonshire moorland and Teign
valley, that his angling friends have come
to associate clouds of this description with
his name. Here is his own account of
the matter :-
" Michel- *' When there is a sign of one of these
doud " clouds about, I always find it impossible
to move a decent trout. They usually
appear on a bright, showery day, but I
have known them to be about on a fine
day after a night's rain when every con-
dition appeared to be perfect for sport.
I do not think that the lack of sport
is due to their brightness, because the
ordinary white clouds are equally bright.
When they are about, trout will not rise
even to a dry-fly, which they will do on
the brightest and hottest summer day,
if these particular clouds are not in
evidence. I have known them in the sky
from nine to twelve, and have not moved
a fish. Other clouds have covered them

RAIN, HAIL, AND SLEET 111

from twelve to one, during which time I
have had good sport. Then they have
reappeared, and I have done nothing for
the rest of the day. For the last twenty
years, at any rate, I have had these clouds
under very careful observation, and I have
never had anything approaching decent
sport when they have been visible."

This baneful cloud, so often Mr. Michel-
more's undoing, is, I venture to think,
the greatest mystery of all the many
puzzling weather influences contributed
by correspondents. In a general way,
Mr. Dodd, as quoted in the last chapter,
prefers bright sunshine to white clouds,
but no similar specific accusation is else-
where brought against a particular re-
curring cloud like that discovered by Mr.
Michelmore. Mr. Horace Hutchinson's
admission of "bright, white, hummocky
clouds in a clear sky " as one of the only
two atmospheric conditions fatal to success
in trout fishing was referred to on an
earlier page.

view,

112 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

(b) Rain

(1) Main-drops on the Surface

Mr. Earl Tlicrc are two theories touching the

Hodgson's g^g^^ ^£. ^ f^ji ^f j.^ij^ ^j^ ^j^g surface of

water, particularly of a lake unruffled by-
wind, and both of these, while attributing
it to different causes, regard it favourably.
In a few cases, it is true, as that of the
half-bred Loch Levens in the artificial
loch previously referred to by Mr. Black,
rain seems to have no effect whatever,
but this is exceptional. To some extent,
too, so experienced a fisherman as Mr.
Earl Hodgson regards rain as powerless
to affect the chance of sport or to influ-
ence the mood of trout. " If," he Avrites,
" they are rising, it does not make them
cease to rise."

The more general view, however, is
that a not too heavy downpour favours
sport. This is explained by the majority
of fishermen as the beneficial effect of
rain-drops ruffling the surface in the
absence of a breeze, a result peculiarly

RAIN, HAIL, AND SLEET 113

favourable on the smooth surface of still
water, though advantageous even in run-
ning water. Thereby, it is argued, the
fisherman's hook, and particularly the
glint of his gut, is hidden from the fish.
The other interpretation of the success
which often follows a shower, preferred
by Mr. Sheild, Dr. Bright, and one or two
more correspondents, is that the appetites
of the fish are stimulated by oxygenation.
Whatever the cause, rain often brings
luck to both salmon- and trout-fishermen,
and the following are among the opinions
in favour of it.

" Rain, if it is real rain (not mist), snow. Rain good for
and even hail I think favourable for
salmon until the water has begun to rise
perceptibly, say more than an inch or two.
A shower of rain, with a puff from a dark
cloud, on a sunny day I call a great
opportunity with a Thunder-and-lightning
*fly'." (J. E.-M.)

" I have seen salmon caught in heavy
rain with a rising water." (J. F.)

"I do not think a shower has a bad

8

114 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

effect (on the Aberdeenshire Dee), but
salmon never take well if the rain is likely
to produce a rise in the water." (R. T. C.)

The foregoing three opinions also bear,
it will be noticed, on the question of the
level of the water, which is discussed at
the end of the chapter.

" Salmon will take in rain, but not
when heavy downpours are coming."
(C. G. B.)

" In the Torridon (Ross-shire), the
coarser the weather, the better the fish-
ing, so long as there is not wind enough
to blow the fly out of the water. The
best rises frequently occur when there is
a sharp patter of rain on the surface."
(G. C.)

" Salmon often take well during rain,
especially if the water is clear and there
is no breeze to ruffle the surface." (J. C. D.)
and for trout; Trout - fishermcn also favour rain, at
any rate in moderation and sometimes
even in abundance, as the following
quotations illustrate : —

" Rain often (in Norway and Lapland)

RAIN, HAIL, AND SLEET 115

starts a rise of brown trout, which will
continue after the rain has stopped."
(H. B. B.)

" In Banffshire rivers, small trout cease
to take the fly in rain, but large trout are
more readily caught during rain than at
any other time." (J. C.)

It is, as might be expected, on the still
surface of lakes that, in the absence of
wind, the patter of rain exercises its bene-
ficial influence appreciably.

" In some lakes, specially Talyllyn, also in lake-
trout rise best after rain, but never so ^ '"^*
well before a storm." (C. E. M. E.)

" White and brown trout take well in
some of the lakes in Co. Mayo during
hard rain." (T. D.)

"For lake-fishing in Donegal, rain,
hanging overhead, is bad, but light showers
are good, and fish sometimes rise well
during, and just after, heavy rain on a
hot, close day." (W. E.-J.)

Among other experiences of good lake-
fishing during rain. Sir Thomas Esmonde
recalls killing over three dozen brown and

116 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

sea-trout in very heavy rain during a
couple of hours' fishing on Lake Devor-
gana, near Water ville, Co. Kerry ; and
Mr. Bryden remembers, as far back as
1874, a day of torrential rain on Loch
Tummel, when he and a friend made a
fine bag of trout.
Experience of Perhaps, howcvcr, the most remarkable
experience of lake-fislnng in rain is that
communicated by Mr. Marmaduke Sheild
as an experience of his own on Lake
Beoraik, Inverness-shire. He relates it
as follows : —

" When the water is strongly dimpled
by heavy rain, the fish may tempor-
arily go mad, and phenomenal baskets
may then be made. I have experienced
this in Loch Leven and elsewhere. An
extraordinary instance is as follows. Many
years ago, one hot August day, I was
staying at Meoble Forest, Inverness-shire,
and as the day was hot and sultry, and
seemed hopeless for fishing, I determined
to accompany the shepherds in their large
boat to see them collect the sheep. We

RAIN, HAIL, AND SLEET 117

rowed up a lake (Beoraik) about three
miles long and terminating in a large
sandy bay, into which several streams
flowed. I had taken the precaution to
bring a fly -rod, net, and tackle. Early in
the afternoon a desperately heavy storm
came on. There was no wind, but the
surface of the lake was splashed and
churned by heavy thunder-rain. Seeing
some fish move, I got into the boat and
began to cast. Instantly two trout were
hooked at once. The gear was strong
and the flies large, as was the custom in
those days and localities, and the fish got
short shrift. For upwards of two hours,
while the heavy rain lasted, I killed trout
at every cast. I had no one to manage
the heavy boat, which I allowed to drift
aimlessly about the bay. It was impos-
sible to go wrong. When the rain ceased,
and the sun came out again intensely hot,
the fish ceased rising with absolute
suddenness. A large creel was filled, and
strings of fish were made up by the
shepherds from those thrown into a pool

118 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

of water in the boat. The catch was
never weighed or counted, but all the
gillies declared that they had never
seen a take like it made with the rod.
Certainly, it exceeded anything else I
have done before or since. Another re-
markable fact was the unusual size of the
fish, which ran two to the pound, with
several of as much as two pounds, and
this in a lake where trout of the ' herring '
A case on sizc are the rule. A friend of mine had a

Loch L#even. • -i • -tit t- x •

Similar experience m Loch L<even, but m
this case, the fish being large and the
tackle fine, he lost many in his eagerness
to profit by the rise. I attribute this
extraordinary activity of the fish entirely
to oxygenation of the water."
Rain on the A somewhat similar experience once
Berwickshire ^^^^^ jyjj. ^^^^e on the Berwickshire

Blackadder.

Blackadder. These are his words : —

" Some few years ago, I was fishing with
a companion in the Berwickshire Black-
adder. We started that morning in clear
sunshine. Then, about noon, a soft,
drizzling, warm rain began to fall and

RAIN, HAIL, AND SLEET 119

lasted all day. In my whole experience
I never knew a rise of trout last so long.
They were on the move for six hours. I
started fishing down, but without success.
I fished across, with the same result. So
I fished up, with a short line, and found
that the fish took freely just as the flies
left the water. Between us, we had 70
trout weighing 21|^ lbs."

Of heavy rain, it is the occasional
experiences that are favourable. Thus,
Mr. Sheringham caught his largest trout
of 1905 in a drenching downpour. Yet
even he prefers the effects of rain to its
actual continuance. The majority of
correspondents are against heavy rain, as
for instance : —

"Heavy rain stops all rising in the Weight of
Upper Tawe (Carmarthen), but a drizzle ^P'^lTe
has little or no effect." (W. W. F.) to heavy

" In trout fishing, heavy, cold rain is an
abomination, but in a light, warm rain
I have known the biggest baskets
made." (G.)

*' When a heavy fall of rain is impend-

120 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

ing, the trout know it beforehand and are
slack in feeding." (St. V. B.)

" For loch-trout in Orkney, it is no use
fishing in heavy rain. Owing, I suppose,
to countless rain-drops, fish do not see the
fly." (A. M. S. G.)

In this connection. General O'Callaghan
mentions that, fishing with minnow on
one occasion in the Till (Northumberland),
he caught a fish about 5 a.m., and then,
from 9.30 a.m., fished with fly in the rain,
which commenced to fall soon after his
first success, without touching another fish
until about 3 p.m. In the two hours that
followed, he landed 18 lbs. of trout, not
one under f lb., and then had to catch a
train. JMr. Gallichan writes that he has
found rainy weather favour bait-fishing for
coarse fish, but not in a low temperature.
*' In some waters," he says, " trout will take
the fly during rather heavy rain, though
seldom during a drenching downpour.
But in certain rivers, light rain seems
to put trout down while it is falling.
Generally speaking, light showers favour

RAIN, HAIL, AND SLEET 121

the angler. V^ery wet seasons, especially
if the weather is cold, do not prove highly
successful as a rule. Fish are often lively
just before heavy rain, though at times
threatening rain seems to have the same
effect as an approaching thunderstorm.
Between the showers, if the temperature
is not cold, most fish appear to be in quest
of food. But experience shows that the
influence of rain is very contradictory, and
it seems almost impossible to affirm
positively concerning the result."

(2) Discoloi^ation of the Water

Of the colours produced in the water
by sky-reflections, something was said in
the last chapter. Very different, in origin
and effect, is the thickening of the water
by mud or peat-stain as the result of
floods. As a rule, this hinders fly-fishing,
but gives the best sport with worm and
other baits. Yet the fly does well again
as soon as the water clears, which it
does rapidly in chalk-streams, where both

122 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

trout and grayling take the fly at once.
In some streams, too, there are, owing to
the currents, patches of clear water out-
side the discoloured area, where fish may
be caught. *' I have," Avrites Colonel
Davies- Cooke, in allusion to this con-
dition, "known about half of a stream as
thick as soup, the rest scarcely coloured."
Fatal yeUow One of the worst forms of discoloration
by a spate is that yellow flood, fortu-
nately rare in dry-fly streams, but only too
familiar in some parts of the country.
General O'Callaghan remembers two occa-
sions on which the dreaded apparition of
this yellow stain drove him from water
otherwise in perfect order. Neither time
did he receive any warning of the impend-
ing change, for the rain that was the cause
of it had fallen far away in the hills and
not in the low country where he was
fishing.
Moss-water " The moss- Water from the hills," writes

pr^udiciai to (.^jj^j^gl Mlnroy, "seems to make the

fish sulky when the water is thereby
rendered thick, but when it settles, and

RAIN, HAIL, AND SLEET 123

the water (in the North Esk) is left clear,
though brown, we get fish when they are
there." Colonel M'Inroy here distin-
guishes between a condition of turbid
opaqueness and one in which, though of
abnormal colour, the water remains trans-
lucent. The distinction is familiar to
most fishermen.

There is a muddy condition of the Bass in
estuary water of the Teiffn, caused by ™"^*^^

•^ o ' .^ water.

heavy rain draining off* Dartmoor, which
gives the water the appearance of pea-
soup. At such times, not a bass is to be
caught until, at any rate, a high tide has
cleared the river with pure sea -water.
This rule I have, during six summers in
succession spent on that estuary in daily
pursuit of bass, found practically without
exception. Whether the bass remain in
the river and are merely unable to see the
live sand-eel used as bait, or whether,
with the water so foul, these estuarine
fish move out over the bar until it clears
again, we do not know.

124 FISHERMEN'S A¥EATHER

(3) Level of the Water in Floods

The causes and effects of discoloration
of a river are approximately easy to trace.
The results of a high or low level of the
water are equally recognised, but are more
difficult to explain. Certain conditions
are admitted as corresponding on a par-
ticular river with good or bad sport.
These vary, however, in different locali-
ties, and as the two are closely associated,
it is not always easy to discuss them apart
from the colour of the water. All that
can here be offered is an indication of
general principles.
Rising water Sir Johu Edwards-Moss and Colonel
Caldwell have already been quoted in the
present chapter to the effect that a rise in
the water may be bad for salmon, and Sir
James Fergusson, on the other hand, as
having had experience of good sport under
such conditions. Sir Henry Pottinger
writes thus on the subject of salmon in
rising water : —

" My experience teaches me that

bad for
salmon

RAIN, HAIL, AXD SLEET 125

when, owing to excess of rain, the water
begins to rise and continues rising, even
although it be scarcely discoloured, sport
with the fly is, for the time being, at an end.
This is especially the case with salmon."

Mr. Sheild pleads for latitude in Best level
estimating such conditions as favourable, ^^^^^^^ ™°"
or otherwise, to the salmon -fisherman.
"As regards salmon," he writes, "many
years of experience have taught me this
broad truth. The caprice of both salmon
and sea-trout is quite inexplicable, and,
while knowing the conditions which suit
them well, the fisherman need never
despair of catching a fish in most un-
favourable weather. I have always
looked upon a falling and clearing water,
after a heavy spate, as the most favour-
able condition for salmon, and an exactly
opposite condition is equally likely, that
is to say, the first flow of flood-water into
a well-stocked pool. The salmon crowd
to the head, and take with avidity on the
first run of the flood-water. 1 have had
many experiences of this."

126 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

After saying that salmon often take a
fly best in a normal spate following a
prolonged period of drought, and with the
river rising slowly, JMr. JNIunro Edwards
continues : " Constant spates, keeping the
fish, as it were, on the move, render them
restless, very seldom inclined to rise to
a fly, or take any bait at all. On the
other hand, if, after a spate, the river falls
rapidly, more rain is portended, especially
if the water retains a dark, peaty hue.
Under such conditions I have seldom had
much sport with either salmon or sewin.
On the ]\lawddach this is especially
noticeable. Clearer water after a heavy
spate often means fine weather to follow,
and if the river falls gradually, salmon
and sewin are more eager for the fly than
if the river fell rapidly and retained its
dark, peaty colour. . . . Sewin will take
a bait of worms more readily than salmon
or grilse when the river rises gradually in
flood. On the other hand, if the rise of
water be sudden and heavy, neither salmon
nor sewin will take at all. . . . Dull,

SALMON JUMPING THE FALLS

RAIN, HAIL, AND SLEET 127

warm, rainy weather is bad for fishing,
whereas cold, rough, rainy weather means
a good day's sport on the Mawddach. It
cannot be too rough. . . . There is no
doubt that the rapid fall of water in our
Welsh streams after a spate, brought
about by the extensive drainage of the
watersheds, influences to a great extent
the habits of our Salmonidce. This rapid
fall in the height of the water causes fish
to settle down at the bottom of the pools,
and under rocks in deep water, much
sooner than formerly. This fact may be
one of the reasons why salmon often take
a fly much more eagerly when at the tail
of a pool than when the river has fallen
and the fish have ascended into the
deeper and rockier parts of the pools."

With regard to the best conditions for On the nvers
salmon fishing in the rivers of the Pro- ^^^'"^*^'"-
vince of Leinster, Colonel St Leger
Moore writes as follows : —

" The best weather conditions for catch-
ing fish in the rivers here are when the
wind is south or west and rain begins to

128 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

fall just before a flood. One is almost
certain to get fish then, however bad
the fishing may have been before.
Even when the water has risen a good
deal, and is colouring, one has a good
chance. I find, however, that it is quite
hopeless when the flood is high and the
water discoloured, and I have in vain
tried flies, large and small, prawn, minnow,
worm, etc. It is also almost impossible to
catch fish for some twelve hours when the
river begins to fall."
On the " The salmon of the Bandon River

mver°" are," writes Mr. Conner, "supposed not
to take when rain is coming on, or when
the river is rising, but this is not at all a
certain rule, as on the 17th September
last I killed five, several of them during
rain, and on two occasions that summer
I killed fish in rising water."
On the It is also wcU kuowu that rising water

is against fishing on the Tweed, and Mr.
Sheild confirms this. " A high flood," he
writes, "dirty and foul, is bad for salmon.
Rut height of water, provided it he Jailing

Tweed.

RAIN, HAIL, AND SLEET 129

and clearing, is no bar, and I have taken
salmon in the Tweed, literally in the
water over grass by the side of the
stream, using a very large and gaudy fly."

Sir Henry Seton-Karr notes that rain, DiiFerent
by increasing the volume of water and ^^^^"*^ °° ^

•^ o salmon and

discolouring it, affects trout less than trout,
salmon, for the former are on the prowl
for food, whereas the latter, when not run-
ning, lie at the bottom of the river and rise
only occasionally at the fly. When the
river is really rising in flood, salmon will
not look at a fly, as all their energies are
concentrated on getting up to the higher
reaches. "Yet," he concludes, "there is
an exception even to this rule, since
salmon will often rise greedily in the
first stir of a flood when the fresh water
first reaches them. ... A friend of mine
on one occasion killed three fish in rapid
succession under such circumstances, and
then the flood came in fuller volume, and
the rise at once ceased. Before the water
began to stir, he could not rise a fish. I
once killed two good fish on the Dee in

130 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

this first half-hour of a flood, after fishing
the two days previous without a rise.
Again, the depth of water is all-important
in influencing a salmon's rise. . . . The
fish do not lie at all in certain throws,
unless the depth of water suits them.
None of these considerations apply in the
case of trout."
Lord It is of the first importance to ascertain

bane's note ^^m local information the precise degree
ontheOrchy. of Spate in which any particular river,
or pool of a river, is likely to give the
fisherman of its best. Of the Orchy, for
instance, which I fished unsuccessfully in
a moderate height of water during the
autumn of 1905, Lord Breadalbane
writes ; " The Orchy has its source in
Loch Tulla, of course small streams
falling into it, but its course on the main
body of the water comes from the loch,
and therefore it does not come down
coloured like many streams, for instance
the Tweed, which, in high spate, is often
unfishable on account of its colour. The
Orchy does not fish well when very small.

RAIN, HAIL, AND SLEET 131

I have noticed that the best sport is
obtained when the river is not in great
flood, but what one might term a
' middUng-size spate.' "

Lord INIontagu of Beauheu suggests Lord
a rule for sea-trout in tidal reaches. The Montagu of

Beauheu on

influence of the tides causes another form sea-trout in
of rise and fall in the lower reaches of
rivers debouching on the sea, and of sea-
trout in such conditions his long experi-
ence has taught him that these fish take
best on the rising tide in those waters
which are subject to rise and fall.

Most fish appear to be put ofl^ the feed Thames
by a rapid rise in the water, but for
Thames trout Mr. Wheeley regards a
swift and sudden rise as a good condition,
if with no extra colour in the water. This
reservation he underlines.

Generally speaking, it is obvious that General

• J ^ 1 1 . 1 • effects of

a period or drought on a salmon-river flood and
means abundance of fish for the nets drought on

salmon and

working down in the estuary, where fish sea-trout.
congregate in their hundreds, waiting for
the first favourable chance to ascend, but

132 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

a corresponding dearth of fish for the rods
above. On a trout- stream, heavy rain
discolours the water, and, by washing
down abundance of worms and grubs,
gives the bait-fisher his opportunity.
Sir Roper In somc rivcrs, indeed, it looks as if

onDartraw)r ^^^ trout wcrc Capable of anticipating
trout. tJiis coming bounty, and in consequence

declining the gifts of the Greeks. As
Sir Roper Lethbridge reminds me, when
the water of the streams running off
Dartmoor and Exmoor begins to rise
rapidly, the trout refuse to follow their
example. A fall of rain may have one
more result that has not been previously
taken into account. It may„ and generally
does, raise the temperature of the water,
even to the extent of bringing out a hatch
of fly. This puts the Stewart tackle out
of court and reinstates the fly-book.

(c) Hail and Sleet

As has been already pointed out, these
conditions are with difficulty separated

RAIN, HAIL, AND SLEET 133

in a discussion of this kind from snow,
so that to some extent the reader will do
well, as regards tlie rest of the evidence
in this chapter, to read it, by cross-
reference, in conjunction with much of
that given in the next. At the same
time, hail is so common an accompani-
ment of sport at a season when we have
no snow, that this is thought the most
satisfactory division.

Lord Wolverton and some others re- Hail no bar
gard hail showers with indifference as *° ^^^
neither good nor bad for fishing. Mr.
Sheringham offers the interesting sug-
gestion, as the result of observation, that
hail is no bar to sport so long as the
temperature of the water remains higher
than that of the air. Such, at any rate,
was the case when, in April 1905, he
caught a 2 lb. trout — a good fish for the
water, during a sharp hailstorm.

The patter of hailstones on the surface Alleged habit

/. ., , , , . ofmahseer.

ot the water seems to have a strange
fascination for the mahseer. General
Morton, Colonel Bairnsfather and other

134 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

correspondents with experience of Indian
fishing refer to a habit which, according
to native report, the mahseer has of rising
to the surface and swallowing the hail-
stones, even, it is said, to the extent of
dying of a surfeit of this cold food.
General JNIorton, without going so far
as to confirm the native belief, admits
that he has seen mahseer show them-
selves very freely during showers of hail,
so that, at any rate, whether they eat it
or not, it does not put them down.
Indeed, Colonel Deane has made a good
bag of them, with fly or fly-spoon, during
a heavy storm of rain and hail.
Mr. Buxton Mr. Buxton, whose fancy for dry
weather as well as dry-fly has already
been illustrated, dislikes hail, and not
without good cause, as the following
reminiscence will show : —

*' On the Kennet, some time ago, in
early June, I was catching fish freely,
when suddenly a heavy hailstorm came
on, churning up the water ; and though
the rise of the fly was unaffected, not a

dislikes hail.

RAIN, HAIL, AND SLEET 135

fish would move until the storm was well
over. I am inclined to think that a
hailstorm frightens the fish and chills
them."

Mr. Munro Edwards has more agree- others less
able memories of trout in hailstorms. °^^^^'
"I have," he writes, "done well with
trout during a hailstorm. Perhaps the
hailstones are mistaken by the trout for
some sort of food." Here, though with-
out any suggestion that they actually
eat the stones, is an analogous case to
that of the mahseer. Sir Richard
Bulkeley has known good days in snow
and hail on spring salmon-rivers, though
he considers that they may spoil sport
with trout.

" In early spring - fishing for trout," Mr. SheUd
writes Mr. Sheild, "a fall of rain, hail, %^^g'^^''"
or even snow will often cause trout fishing.
temporarily to rise. A heavy fall of hail
is often followed by a gleam of sun, and
the temperature of the air is raised. A
small hatch of duns or March Browns
frequently at once ensues and puts the

136 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

trout on the feed. I also incline to the
belief that the disturbance of the water
may temporarily increase oxygenation.
Be this as it may, I have for years, when
fishing in the spring in the Tweed or
Border streams, always looked upon a
hailstorm as a good omen, and have never
failed to fish duriTig the fall.

"In April 1905 I was fishing in the
Eamont (Cumberland), and the day was
as bad and as unpropitious as it could be :
dull, leaden clouds, a bitter N.E. wind,
and not a trace of insect life visible.
There had been a frost in the morning.
Up to 12 o'clock I had taken only a few
under-sized trout, which were returned.
About 12.30 a heavy storm of hail and
sleet broke on the river. This had not
lasted ten minutes before I noticed a few
large light-coloured March Browns float-
ing down, and a few scattered rises were
also evident. In a brief space of time I
took ten good-sized trout, though I had
fished the same water unavailingly before.
The flies were fished wet and allowed to

RAIN, HAIL, AND SLEET 137

sink very deep. The storm was so heavy
that a pile of hail and snow rested on my
creel, and several other anglers, who were
out and who sought shelter, scarcely got
a fish between them. Such instances are
probably in the experience of most
practical fishermen."

An experience, probably in some
respects unique, which befell Mr. Noble,
may here, though it also involves the
influence of conditions dealt with in later
chapters, be cited. He tells it thus : —

"On one occasion, thirty -three years a curious
ago, my father, an old Tweedside fisher, on^^TEsk
and myself were fishing the Esk. Our
sport had been nil ; clear sunshine and
great heat. Then came a slight, warm
shower of rain, and then a thunderstorm,
which, having lasted for some time,
turned to hail and snow. We had
arrived at a spot now occupied by Glad-
house Reservoir, the Edinburgh water-
supply. The trout were on the move,
and as quickly as my father cast his line
he had trout. In ten minutes or so we

138 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

had three dozen. When the snow and
hail came, all was still. I have fished for
thirty-six years and I never saw anything
else like it."
others Mr. J. S. Tulloch informs me that, in

Shetland, he has made an excellent
basket of trout in May, fishing with fly,
during, and immediately after, sleet ; and
Mr. Russell also remembers catching
trout freely with fly during hail showers.
Lord Suffblk informs me that Mr.
Barker, who owns the Fairford water on
the Coin, has killed trout between hail-
storms, and that his own keeper, W.
Davidson, has, in March, killed trout in
the Don under similar conditions. Lord
Montagu likewise recalls catching two
sea-trout, weighing nearly 12 lbs., "in
the middle of a most violent hailstorm,
the hail being so fierce that I was unable
to see a double-hooked Jock Scott drop
on the water, yet the fish seemed to be
more lively than ever during the storm."

It will be remembered that several
correspondents expressed themselves (see

RAIN, HAIL, AND SLEET 139

Chapter I.) in favour of alternate dull sky Advantage
and gleams of sun ; and that veteran sunsWne^nd
sportsman, Sir Henry Pottinger, with rain,
characteristic reluctance to dogmatise,
suggests the broader application of a
similar rule in respect of rain.

"In dry, hot weather," he writes, "a
heavy shower, without thunder, will
often bring trout up and set them feed-
ing briskly, and, on the other hand,
a gleam of sunshine, occurring on a
dull, depressing day, will have an
exactly similar effect. Ideal 'fishermen's
weather,' therefore, would seem to consist
in a happy alternation of blue skies with
sunshine and clouds with rain. But I
repeat that the experience of anglers is so
infinitely varied — inasmuch as success is
often attained under conditions apparently
the most adverse, while failure as often
results under those that seem most
favourable — that any attempt to be
dogmatic on the subject would be absurd."

CHAPTER III

OF FROST AND SNOW

First it blew.
Then it snew.
Then it thew.

I. Frost : Advantages of frost and sunshine — Good sport in

frosty weather — The passing of the frost — Seasonable
cold not prejudicial — Frost good for grayling —
Opinions hostile to frosty weather — Temperature and
coarse fish — Mr. Matthews on tlie effects of frost.

II. Snow : Snow not a bar to sport — Mr. J. J. Hardy's

experience on the Aln — In Norway and Lapland —
Curious experience of Sir Douglas Brooke — Other
instances of good sport in snowstorms — Case of the
Thames trout — Snow good for salmon fishing — A
snowstorm on the Slaney.

III. Snow-Bhoth : Cases of sport with melted snow in the
water — Snow-broth in Canada and Norway — Evidence
hostile to snow-broth — Touching mahseer fishing.

We have so far considered conditions
which belong rather to spring and
summer than to any colder season of
the year. Yet the angling enthusiasm

140

OF FROST AND SNOW 141

bums brightly through the winter days,
and we must now review some of the
ways in which frost and snow may affect
the prospects of sport. Something was
incidentally said in Chapter I. of the
effect of a low temperature on fish-
ing, chiefly in explanation of the con-
verse results of a high temperature. In
Chapter II., also, it was found impracti-
cable to omit all consideration of snow
when dealing with rain and hail A
fuller discussion has, however, been left
for the present chapter.

I. Frost

The very low temperature which Advantages
paints the riverside landscape white with sunshine.
frost is usually regarded as disastrous to
fishing. Of a truth, there are other
forms of sport more suitable under such
conditions. Nevertheless, some anglers
actually welcome a frost. The late Lady
Bridge wrote me that she always rose,
and often landed, salmon when white

142 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

frost was all over the ground in the morn-
ing, even with the water low and the
sky cloudless. Indeed, a combination of
bright sunshine and frosty weather would
seem to be very favourable to salmon
fishing. Sir John Edwards-Moss con-
siders that bright sunshine even improves
the fisherman's chances during a frost.
*' One does not," he adds, " often get a
fresh fish before mid-day in frosty weather
early in the year, though one gets worried
by kelts. It looks as if the fresh fish wait
till the water is * aired ' before rising."

Of good sport with both salmon and
trout in a hard frost, and particularly
later in the day after a night of frost,
my correspondence contains so many
evidences that some selection is called
for, since the mere compatibility of the
two seems too evident to need the weight
of testimony.
Good sport Sir Herbert Maxwell remembers taking

w^ifw ^ yellow trout on a salmon - fly in
the Thurso, in February, "fishing in a
narrow run between solid ice-sheets six

OF FROST AND SNOW 143

inches thick." General Dalton writes :
" In a loch I have had fine sport with
salmon in snowstorms and frost, when my
line was freezing so hard that it would
scarcely run through the rings, but this
was 'harling' and not casting. After a
frosty night," he adds, " salmon seldom rise
early." Mr. Barrington also recollects
catching salmon when the top-ring of the
rod had to be warmed to prevent its being
choked with ice. Mr. Conner writes that,
after an October frost, salmon may be
killed in the Bandon River, in low water,
with the shrimp and also, he thinks, with
the fly. In spring, on the other hand,
he does not think fish take well after frost.

As has been said above, whatever may The passing
be the opinion of anglers as to sport °^*'^^^'^°^*
during actual frost, there seems no doubt
that the chances are good when it is
going, as, for instance, in the afternoon
of a mild day following a hard frost
overnight. Thus, Lord Granby is of
opinion that it is useless to go after
trout *' until any frost there may have

144 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

Seasonable
cold not
prejudicial.

been has been dispelled by the mid-day
sun." Lord Wolverton regards frost in
early morning, say up to about 11 a.m.,
as excellent, but he considers that it is
against sport when it lasts all day.

'* I am never," writes Colonel St. Leger
Moore of the rivers of Leinster, " able to
kill fish when the frost is on the ground,
and things are white with it, or in a thick,
frosty fog ; but I have killed fish when the
frost was going."

" Salmon," ^vrites Colonel Caldwell,
"do not take well in the morning till
any hoar-frost on the grass has melted."

It will have been noted just above
that one correspondent referred to spring
frosts as not conducive to sport. Mr.
Earl Hodgson, on the other hand, regards
these seasonable frosts in the early part
of the year as by no means unfavourable
to sport. Only unseasonable cold, he
says, acts adversely to the fisherman's
interests. "Early in spring," he writes,
"when frost occurs, it is usually among
the conditions which are favourable, and

OF FROST AND SNOW 145

it does not often occur later in the season.
Sometimes, although there is no actual
frost, the temperature is abnormally low
in summer and in autumn. When
that happens, sport is poor ; but I think
that the prominent condition of the
atmosphere is only a symptom of the
cause. It may be that the trout are down
because flies are not up." Other corre-
spondents, indeed, regard frost as a help
in spring salmon-fishing. Mr. Marston
gives a good reason for holding this
opinion. After a frosty night a river
may have run down to the right height
for the best pools, owing to the frost
having arrested the flow of water from
the burns.

Of all the Sahnonidce, the grayling Frost good
alone is generally regarded as feeding ^o*" &^*>'''"g-
better after a frost. Mr. Gallichan,
alone among those who refer to this fish,
does not favour frosty weather, but has
found that his best days with grayling
in November and December have been
"mild, with a little sunlight at noon."

10

146 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

Yet some of the biggest bags of grayling
on record in Yorkshire rivers have been
made in bright, dry, frosty weather. Mr.
Senior, a grayling enthusiast, is most hope-
ful on a morning of sunshine and still-
ness after a white frost. Mr. Sheringham
made his best bag of grayling for 1904
on a December day, when it was freezing
slightly the whole time he was out.
Mr. Rolt, a recognised authority on this
fish, also considers an overnight frost and
a dull day, with occasional sunshine and
no wind, to follow, ideal conditions for
sport. " In frosty weather," he adds,
"when the wet-fly has frozen into a tiny
mass of ice on being taken out of the
water for a few moments, grayling have
taken freely."
Opinions Many salmon- and trout -fishermen
frosV ° oppose frost unconditionally. Mr. IVIunro
weather. Edwards has never enjoyed much sport
with trout after a white frost in the
morning. He considers that it makes
both salmon and sewin "dour." He
notes, writing chiefly of North Wales,

OF FROST AND SNOW 147

that a white frost is often followed by
a change in the weather. Sir Douglas
Brooke has on his grouse mountain a
small loch absolutely crammed with very
small trout, but it is useless to fish for
these after a night's frost. Sir William
Dalgleish describes frost as bad for salmon
fishing in the Tay, and Captain Edge-
worth-Johnstone condemns it for Donegal
rivers generally. Mr. Black says that it
is fatal in the case of the Loch Levens
in the artificial loch near Edinburgh
referred to in previous chapters. As for
barbel, very few seem to be caught in the
winter months at all. Mr. Wheeley, who
has fished steadily through many winters on
the Thames and Wey, using leger-tackle
for perch, roach, and chub, has never
in his whole experience caught a winter
barbel. His best sport, on the contrary,
with that fish has been in warm weather,
after rain, with W. or S.W. wind.^ The

' The first recorded winter barbel were two, of small
size, captured by bank anglers at Weyb ridge, February,
1906. The weather at the time was mild, and the water
was in flood.

148 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

Temperature bream is another warm - weather fish,
fish and Mr. Wheeley remarks that, although

the best time for bream fishing is
during the calm, hot weather in Sep-
tember, these sometimes feed well on
a mild day in February, so long as
the water is not then too thick. Chub,
on the other hand, feed well in frosty
weather and clear water, and a slight
frost sometimes makes pike more eager
for the bait. " Roach and perch," writes
Mr. Sheringham, "sometimes feed well
in frost, but on the whole prefer open
weather. On some waters, roach seem
not to feed very well in winter ; on others,
it is the best season for them." Mr. Rolt
has also found that, though the first sharp
frost puts roach off the feed, they soon
grow accustomed to the cold and then
come readily to the bait.
Mr. Matthew Mr. Matthcws, who has had great ex-

on the effects . /• n ^ - j_ i • i ^

of frost. perience oi coarse iish m most kmds oi
weather, sends some interesting notes on
the effects of frost. " I have fished," he
writes, " in many sharp frosts, but it has

OF FROST AND SNOW 149

been the exception rather than the rule
to find fish feeding during the first day
or two of a frost. The sudden change
seems to make all fish, even pike, rather
torpid, but I have had some good sport
when the fish have accustomed them-
selves to the new conditions. One of
my best baskets of Thames roach was
made when the weather was so severe
that a robin perched on my rod for some
time, and my puntsman and I fed two
robins with bread-crust in the 'parlour'
of the punt. Hard frosts drive all kinds
of fish to take shelter under the roots
and bushes. 1 once caught some roach
through a hole in the ice in the Suffolk
Stour. The river was open in the channel,
but at the spot where I fished in the
slack stream there was a deep pool,
with ice an inch thick." Mr. Matthews
has often had good chub fishing with
the rod - rings choked with ice, and
he has found that fish bite ravenously
in frosty weather, but he thinks that
roach and other kinds of fish feed

150 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

slowly when the water strikes colder
than the air.

As regards frost, then, we have seen
that it is favourable to grayling fishing,
and that, so long as it goes off during
the morning, a frost overnight may benefit
the salmon and trout fishing next day.
In the case of some specified rivers and
lakes, however, it seems fatal to sport,
and its effect is not the same on all coarse
fish, bream preferring warm weather, and
barbel being rarely caught in cold.

II. Snow

To some extent, snow is associated with
frost, but it may be absent in the hardest
frost, and, on the other hand, it may lie
along the banks of the river with the
temperature either above or below
freezing-point. Again, there is a dis-
tinct condition, when snow melts into
the river, known as " snow-broth," which
will be considered separately. In many
cases where a fall of snow is not fatal,

OF FROST AND SNOW 151

or even prejudicial, to sport, this melted
snow, thickening the water, puts almost
all fish off the feed.

Though the conditions accompanying Snow not a
snow are more conducive to pleasure ^'■*°^p^'^-
when shooting, those who are willing to
face the cold and other discomfort often
speak highly of the sport. Colonel
Broadfoot has caught trout in the
Aberdeenshire Don in a snowstorm in
May, and Mr. Smart, writing from Bud-
leigh Salterton, has made good baskets
in both the Exe and the Otter during
a fall of snow in early spring. IMr. Earl
Hodgson considers that snow is not in
itself adverse to sport, and says that it
often falls amid atmospherical conditions
favourable to the fisherman.

One of the most striking cases of a Mr. j. j.
good bag made in a heavy snowstorm gxperfence
in the spring fishing on the Aln is com- ontheAin.
municated by Mr. J. J. Hardy, as ex-
perienced a fisherman as any in the
Border country. He was fishing with
his father at Broom Park, and they

152 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

caught between them eight or ten dozen
trout. " During the morning," he writes,
"very few fish would rise, but in the
afternoon we had a very severe thunder-
storm with snow. During the snowstorm,
while the flakes were falling thick on the
water, the fish rose madly. It was a
most curious incident and made a great
impression on me at the time — the dense
snowstorm wrapping everything in white,
the stillness, the oppressive silence, and
the two of us catching trout just as fast
as we could cast, while our coats were
white with clinging snow."
In Norway Dr. Baker noticed during his fishing

*" pan • excursions in Norway and Lapland that
the usual effect of a fall of snow was to
put the small trout off the feed, but to
bring the larger fish on. " Small fish,"
he writes, "go down at once. Big fish
rise fairly. I got three brown trout,
each over 2 lbs., in half an hour in a
snowstorm. I had been getting half-
pounders up to the time the storm came
on, but they did not rise at all later."

OF FROST AND SNOW 153

" On the 30th March 1891," writes Curious
Sh' Douglas Brooke, "the water was s^J'iJ'o^urI^"
dead low. A very cold N.E. wind was Brooke.
blowing, and there were constant showers
of hail and snow. I had to go to a small
river (in Co. Fermanagh) some few miles
away, to settle a dispute between two
tenants, which had arisen over the river
having slightly altered its course during
the winter floods. I took a rod with me,
more to give myself something to do as I
walked up the river than in any expecta-
tion of catching fish. However, I had
the best afternoon I ever had on that
river, killing twenty -six fish. They rose
freely and boldly to a March Brown, but
there was no sign of any natural fly on
the water."

Sir George Brown remembers, while other
fishing in Gloucestershire, on the little "oo^sp^ort in
stream which runs through Stroud, snowstorms.
meeting a man who had had an excellent
day's sport the previous Friday during
a severe snowstorm. Colonel Cornwallis
West has caught trout in the Dee (near

154 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

Corwen, Merionethshire) in a snowstorm,
with the wind in the east ; and a friend
of Mr. Noble once made a great basket
of trout in the Haddingtonshire Tyne in
spring in a snowstorm, with the sun trying
to break through. Dr. WiUiam Murray
writes that the Coquet and other Border
streams often fish well in April in a partial
fall of snow, " especially with glints of sun-
shine " ; and Dr. George Murray sends
the following experience of one of them :
" I was fly-fishing early in the season on
a small stream in Northumberland, on a
day when the water was in good order,
and there were heavy snowstorms at
intervals. I remember well that the
trout rose freely during each shower of
snow and stopped at once when it was
over."

*' Snowstorms," writes Mr. Gallichan,
" usually put trout down, though they
will often rise well between snow showers
in April. I have caught trout once or
twice during a shower of snow, but this
is exceptional."

A ROUGH DAY AND BOILING WATER

OF FROST AND SNOW 155

So far we have been taking evidence in Case of the
respect of ordinary brown trout. As the trout ^^
season for that coveted and mysterious
fish, the Thames trout, opens (as some
consider, most appropriately) on the first
of April, snow is, as might be expected,
no unusual condition of the sport, nor,
according to Mr. Gomm, who has had
many successes with this fish, is it neces-
sarily against good results. Among many
interesting memories of Thames trout
which he has given me, the following is
well worth quoting : —

" I remember, some three or four
seasons back, starting on the opening
day. The water was in the worst possible
condition — very thick and bank -high.
There was no sun, and the day was cold
and windy, the exact opposite of the
recognised trout weather. I wore an
overcoat, but was cold in spite of it.
My boatman said that we had better
stay at home, but I have not missed the
First for years, and went as a matter of
duty. About 2 o'clock it commenced to

156 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

snow heavily, and I made for a sheltered
hole known as the Tumbling Bay, Penton
Hook, with little hope of seeing a fish.
Within half an liour, I caught three
Thames trout in splendid condition, 6^,
5f, and 4 J lbs., and this in a blinding
snowstorm."

Mr. Wheeley also mentions having

killed this fish in both hail and snow,

" one fish in a blinding snowstorm, others

in blazing sun."

Snow good Ordinary trout and Thames trout may,

for salmon , , , i n . c, ,

fishing. then, take well m snow, balmon seem
to be still more approachable under such
conditions, and indeed a fall of snow
seems positively favourable. Colonel
M'Inroy writes of the upper waters of
the North Esk : "In one pool I killed
salmon in the same week in a snowstorm
and in a thunderstorm. ... In October
1881 I killed three salmon and a sea-trout
in a short afternoon, hooking every one of
them during snow squalls. Between the
squalls, not one would look at me."

Mr. Bagot and Mr. Dodd are among

OF FROST AND SNOW 157

those correspondents who favour snow for
sahnon fishing. Colonel St. Leger Moore
contributes the following strange experi-
ence of salmon in a snowstorm : —

" In March 1893 I went down to the a snowstorm
Slaney, which was high and coloured, and g? * ^
as T was putting up my rod it began to
snow. The wind was in the north and
rather high, and the day was very cold.
I put on the casting-line and left it to soak
in the water while I took refuge under a
big rock. After half an hour or so, as it
was snowing worse than ever, I got tired
of sitting down, and thought that I would
try a few casts to warm me. I took up
the rod, let out a few yards of line, and
cast out towards a rock opposite. I had
only a very short line, but I saw a fish
come with a boil at the fly, found I was
in him, and killed him. Lower down
the pool I got another, and altogether I
took four clean-fish (besides three kelts,
which I returned) in one of the worst
snowstorms I ever was out in in this
country, and went home at 3 p.m."

158 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

It seems that it is not very common
to catch salmon in Irish rivers during the
falling of snow, for Mr. Conner thinks it
worth mentioning that he knew a single
case of a salmon taken with fly under
such conditions in the Bandon in the
month of March, about three years ago.

As regards sea-fishing, I do not think
that a fall of snow affects ground-fish,
and surface-fishing is for the most part
over by that season. Snowy weather
may, as Mr. Minchin reminds me, in-
directly benefit the pier - fisherman by
bringing the larger cod inshore. Whether
they seek shallower, and therefore warmer,
water, or come in pursuit of sprats, I am
not sure.

III. Snow-Broth

We have seen the eff^ects of snowstorms
on fishing for trout and salmon. Until
the snow has melted into the river, the
fall does not appear to influence sport
beyond what would be expected of a
low temperature. A very heavy fall on

OF FROST AND SNOW 159

a still lake would, and probably does,
dimple the surface after the manner of
rain or hail. When, however, the snow
melts off the land, and the river is
thickened with the product, which fisher-
men call "snow-broth," a very different
result is noted. On the whole, and taking
the weight of evidence from a variety of
localities far apart, it may be regarded as
fatal to sport, and a good catch with snow-
broth in the water will be noted as an
exception. Yet it is not unknown.

The late Lady Bridge caught a 43 lb. Cases of good
autumn salmon on the fly when the meiterinow
Spean was full of snow-water. In April in the water.
1881 Colonel St. Leger Moore made a
great basket of trout on the Liffey
" when the water was almost green from
the melted snow coming off the moun-
tains." In this case, it is probable that
the melting snow had some distance to
travel before reaching the spot at which
he was fishing, rising in temperature or
otherwise losing its deleterious proper-
ties. Mr. Champneys suggests a similar

160 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

phenomenon in the following experience :
" The best trout fishing I ever had — good
sport, lasting for many days — was on a
Scotch river in a succession of freshets
caused by the snow melting during warm
nights. It is clear that in this case the
factor to be taken into account was the
distance of the mountains, which held
the snow, from the fishing-ground, taken
in connection with the average depth and
pace of the stream. In this instance, the
length of run would measure some twelve
to fifteen miles, a considerable portion of
which would be over shallows, in which
the water would rapidly become warmer.
The question, in fact, is not whether
snow or rain is the cause of the fresh,
but merely one of temperature."
Snow-broth This last Opinion of Mr. Champneys
in Canada j^ ^^^ bomc out bv othcr Correspondents,

and Norway. •' r »

all of whom, save in the exceptional cases
mentioned, recognise some mysterious
hostile property in snow-broth, quite
distinct from the mere operation of
temperature. For instance, General

OF FROST AND SNOW 161

Dalton, pointing out the importance of
snow-broth in Canada and in Norway,
says that he has found that, while fresh
water is absolutely necessary in the river,
if sport is to be reckoned on, salmon take
the fly better when the snow-water is run
down, and the water of the river has had
time to get warmed.

Mr. Rolt writes that snow-water be- Evidence
numbs roach, "and to fish for them snow-broth
while snow-broth is in the river is a
case of love's labour's lost. While there
has been snow in the water, grayling
have sometimes fed, while at others they
have refused to do so." A possible ex-
planation of this apparent contradiction
is offered by Mr. Gallichan, whose experi-
ence of grayling in Derbyshire streams is
that they do not go off the feed in snow-
water so long as the temperature does
not rise above freezing-point. As regards
trout, JNlr. Gallichan had it from a reliable
professional fisherman in Wales that he
had made a heavy catch with worm when

snow was melting in the river. Mr.

11

162 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

Gawthorne, writing of the Avon at Salis-
bury, regards snow-broth as fatal to pike,
and Mr. Wheeley has no better opinion
of it in respect of roach. "I have," he
writes with reference to this matter, " had
good bags of roach, with snow actually
falling, but when the snow has melted
and run into the river, never."

"When," writes Mr. Coleridge, "the
water of the Torridon is blue and clear
from snow melting off the hills, fishing is
usually hopeless."

" I myself," says Lord Breadalbane,
"never had a really good day's fishing
when snow has come into the river and
the river has been rising by it alone. . . .
This I have noticed frequently in Loch
Tay."
Touching It is not always easy to determine from

mahseer ,^ brief account of a particular experience
whether there was actually snow in the
water or not. Thus, regarding mahseer,
General Morton says that these fish are
supposed by the natives to sicken in
snow-water, and he adds that when it is

OF FROST AND SNOW 163

present the fisherman cannot do better
than pack up his rods. Colonel Deane
confirms the futility of fishing for mahseer
in snow-broth. On the other hand, here
is an experience of Colonel Stead, which
seems to indicate sport with that fish when
snow was in the river. It was during
the Afghan War, about Christmas time,
and he was fishing in the river at Kuram,
which may be given as approximately
6000 feet above sea-level.

" I was," the account runs, " fishing in
the river at Kuram. The country was
all under snow, and the weather bitterly
cold, but I got 58 lbs. weight of mahseer
in about two hours' fishing. None of
them were large — the best, indeed, no
more than 17 lbs., but it was capital
sport. I remember wading in the river,
and it felt like ice."

CHAPTER IV

OF WIND

Wind necessary for lake-fishing — Other cases in which
wind is wanted — Where still weather is the best : for
grayling ; for roach, etc. ; case of char — An upstream
wind best — Views of Mr. Hodgson and Sir Samuel
Montagu — I. East ^Vind : Alleged malignity of east
wind — Considered the best on Loch Leven — On rivers
running east and west — For sea-fishing on the west
coast — For bass at Brixham — Prejudice against it —
Sir Henry Pottinger's opinion — Mr. Basil Champneys
on the need for a broader study of wind in fishing
— Mr. Sydney Buxton's experience — East wind favour-
able on east coast rivers — Explanations by Mr. Hall
and Mr. Earl Hodgson — Evidence favourable to east
wind : on the Sand River ; for Thames trout ; on the
Otter — Other cases — Evidence against it — Exceptional
cases of unexpected success — General verdict — H.
North Wind : In sea-fishing ; an uncommon wind
— N.E. wind usually even worse than E. — Exceptions
to this — Conflicting opinions — III. West Wind : On
an east coast — Note by Sir Henry Seton-Karr —
Opinions favourable to west wind — IV. South Wind :
Evidence in favour of it — S.E. and E.S.E. — In praise
of S.W. — Quarter unimportant so long as upstream
— Sport in a "Helm" wind — A veering wind bad —
The same wind not suited to all seasons.

Viewed broadly in all its relations, wind
is, so far as the fisherman is concerned,

164

OF WIND 165

perhaps the most important of all weather
conditions. Of itself, it may, accord-
ing to its direction upstream or down,
render fly-fishing pleasant and profitable,
or the reverse. Its absence may, on
the still water of lakes, put fly-fishing
out of court altogether. In sea-fishing,
it may blow off* the land and thus ensure
a calm sea and immunity from the dread-
ful condition in which, as the historian
relates of Philip the Handsome, the fisher-
man is *' unquyeted in mynde and bodie."
Even apart from its intrinsic influence on
sport, wind is viewed apprehensively on
account of the rain, hail, or snow that it
may bring on its wings, or the sudden fall
in temperature, which, to the destruction
of the natural fly, may result when it
blows from an unfavourable quarter.
Apart, then, from its direction, it must
be apparent that the mere occurrence
and force of wind may be of the greatest
importance. As a general rule, the fly-
fislier looks for the best trout on the most
windy days and, in consequence, uses his

166 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

largest flies, but even this has its excep-
tions.
Wind The one case in which some sort of

for lake-^ wind is generally regarded as an absolutely
fishing. essential condition of good fishing is that

of lakes, in which, in the absence of eithei-
tidal ebb and flow or the movement of
running water, the surface is too still on
a windless day for any style of fishing
more artistic than trailing the flies astern
of a moving boat. This in a measure
overcomes the difficulty by both creating
an artificial ripple in the wake of the boat
and presenting the lures at a greater
distance from the fisherman than he could
reach by casting without a wind at his
back, but it is at best a makeshift in
no great favour with any one who can
throw a fly. As a rule, those who fish
in lakes like as strong a wind as possible,
so long as the boat is navigable. Colonel
Deane writes that he has had some of
his best sport on lakes by staying out in
gales until it would have been dangerous
to remain on the water any longer.

OF WIND 167

Wind is considered equally necessary for
spinning for pike in lakes. Mr. Barker
writes that in loch-fishing for salmon or
sea-trout in the Hebrides, a moderately
strong wind is also desirable.

Writing of wind generally, and of wind other cases
from the S.W. in particular, Mr. Shering- |s wanted^"
ham expresses a preference for plenty of it,
with waves on the water, for pike, and a
good deal for salmon. For trout in a
lake, he likes enough to produce a ripple
and no more, and he likes a fair share
when float -fishing for chub. Even on
many rivers, wind of some kind is a con-
dition of success. On the Towy, for
instance, the worst possible day for the
fisherman is one with clouds and no wind.

There are, on the other hand, many where stm
fish and styles of fishing for which a per- JJ^^^gJ !^
fectly still day, without a breath stirring,
is generally admitted to be most favour-
able to sport. Thus, Mr. Sheringham,
while liking wind for chub when float-
fishing, prefers an absolutely still day,
with a very hot sun, when catching the

168 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

same fish on the fly. He is also an
advocate of quite still weather for any
fly-fishing in mountain streams, as well
as for roach, bream, carp, tench, perch
for grayling; and grayling. As regards the last, Mr.
Rolt shares this preference. "Unsettled
weather," he writes with reference to
grayling fishing, "is inimical to their
taking well. . . . With half a gale blow-
ing, the grayling -fisher's bag will be
empty. Three days recently spent on
the Itchen will exemplify this. On the
first day, the glass was steady. There
was not a breath of wind, and the result
of fishing from 9 till 5 was nine brace
of grand fish. Days two and three were
very windy, so much so that casting was
impossible in the best stretches of the
river open to the angler. The catch for
the two days came to only 4|^ brace of
medium-sized fish. Again, on the Wylye
one day, there was a perfect hurricane
of wind and rain, and at the close of a
long fight with the elements the bag
showed two brace of fish just over the

OF WIND 169

limit size of 11 inches. In the night
the wind moderated somewhat, and, by
trying sheltered spots next day, five brace
of magnificent grayling were secured, the
largest weighing 2 lbs. 2 oz."

This preference for calm weather in
fishing is confirmed by Mr. Sydney
Buxton. "Exactly contrary to wet-fly
fishing," he writes, "any wind is to my
mind a drawback and a nuisance in dry-
fly fishing ; and a heavy, boisterous wind
both alarms the fish and blows the fly off*
the water, and so in both respects tends
to spoil the rise."

When fishing in strong gales for roach, for roach, etc.
Mr. Rolt suggests a choice of quiet spots,
for, he says, roach will not take a bait
which, in sympathy with the float, travels
down the swim in unnatural fashion.
"Gudgeon," says Lord Desborough, "are
perhaps the only Thames fish for which
windy weather cannot be regarded as
good."

Wind may moreover suit a particular case of char.
fish in one locality, yet not in another.

170 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

Thus, Mr. Bryden has taken char freely
in Loch Tay as soon as a breeze sprang
up suddenly on a hot August day. On
the other hand, Admiral Kennedy writes
that the char in his lake in Sweden rise
freely all over the water on calm, hot
mornings, but are put down the moment
a breeze ruffles the surface. Colonel
Davies-Cooke cites a similar case of trout
refusing to rise in a ripple in the Bann
River, the only water in his experience in
which this is the case. The professional
fishermen of the locality confirm this
result of his observations.^
An upstream The temperature of the wind is more

Wind D€st

important than the quarter from which it
blows, but the most essential condition of
all for the fisherman's comfort and success
is that it shall blow upstream. An up-
stream wind, it is to be observed, not
merely favours upstream casting, but

^ It may be noted that fly-fishing for billet (coal-fish) on
Filey Brigg is possible only in an offshore (W,) wind and
absolutely calm water. With any curl on the waves, local
anglers fish with bait for codling only. Lord Desborough
also tells me that all his best sport with tarpon was on the
calmest days, with clear water. — F. G. A.

OF WIND 171

also, by blowing in a direction contrary
to the run of the water, makes a better
ripple.

" Excepting in the dusk and at night," views of Mr.
writes Mr. Earl Hodgson, "wind is sirsTmueT
desirable on lakes and on the flat parts Montagu.
of streams. Otherwise, it is not in itself,
I think, a cause of either good or bad
sport. It is only a symptom of the cause,
or of some of the causes. For example,
a wind such as that which often comes
before thunder is no use at all, and, as
has been indicated, the absence of wind
at nightfall, and until the dawn, is not a
disadvantage."

Sir Samuel Montagu, writing with
reference to his fishery on the Itchen,
confirms the absence of significance of
wind per se. Unless accompanied by hail
or heavy rain, he says that it has no appre-
ciable effect on sea-trout fishing in that
water.

It is, in fact, manifestly impossible to
lay down any law as to the best or worst
wind for any particular fish or mode of

172 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

fishing without reference to the position
of the lake or river, or even for any water
without regard to the season, for, as
will presently be shown, different winds
suit different waters, or even the same
water at different seasons of the year.
Thus, drawing on a long and wide ex-
perience. Sir Thomas Esmonde is of
opinion that he has killed trout in practi-
cally every wind.

It remains to consider the winds in
order. Precedence is given to that from
the east, as, besides being of great
importance in fishing, it has been more
unscientifically criticised than any other.

I. East Wind

Alleged " There is," writes Chetham, in the

2^S.°^ ^^^glers rade-Memm, 1689, **a secret
malignity in the east wind that generally
abates fishes' appetites and desire of baits."
Considered Is there ? Thosc wlio fish Loch Leven,

the best on ^j, ^j^g Twccd, Baudou, or most rivers on

Loch Leven,

etc. the east side of Britain, where, coming off

OF WIND 173

the sea, it blows milder than on the west,
or in salt water on the west side, where it
gives calm seas, or for bass off Brixham,
where it imparts a desirable curl to the
waves of Torbay, would pooh-pooh Master
Chetham's alleged malignity and make him
a present of the wind from any other
quarter.

It was unreservedly condemned by
many of the older angling writers, but it
must be borne in mind that their stand-
point was in most cases limited by a very
narrow horizon, since many of them knew
only the south-country streams.

There are, no doubt, localities in which Prejudice
an east wind puts fish off the feed. *^*^"^
Nevertheless, much of the prejudice
which exists against it is a matter of
tradition rather than of actual experience.
This attitude on the part of fishermen
may in part be accounted for by the
depressing influence which this wind has
on many people, notably on those subject
to neuralgia, whom I have known to
suffer acutely during its prevalence in

174 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

})laces as far apart as Melbourne and

Gibraltar. So good a sportsman as Sir

Sir Henry Henry Pottingcr, while bound to admit

Pottinger's ... • . • ••

opinion. extenuating circumstances, gives it no
quarter. " Is there/' he asks, " a fly-fisher
for either salmon or trout who does not
hate the east wind ? In trout fishing it
may, I think, be regarded as almost fatal
to sport, that is to say, the genuine bitter
E. or N.E. wind so characteristic of an
English spring, accompanied by black
and gloomy skies. There is a mitigated
form of east wind in summer, nearly soft,
and far less deadly an enemy. Salmon
are less affected by it, I think, than trout.
In Norway, at all events, I have had
good sport with a cold E. wind blowing
all the time I was fishing. In pike
fishing, the bitter N.E. wind is said,
probably with truth, to help any angler
bold enough to face it, as witness
Kingsley's fine lines : —

* . . . hunger into madness
Every plunging pike,' "

Reference was made above to the

OF WIND 175

manner in which, for want of broader
experience, seventeenth - century angling
^v^iters vituperated the east wind, and
Mr. Basil Champneys summarises these
limitations at some length : —

*' Certain general rules have been laid Mr. Basil
do-v^Ti, which apply, though with more or on the'IJeed
less frequent exceptions, to one method for a
of angling and have been taken to cover study of wind
all other kinds, to which they are alto- '" ^^^^"^•
gether inapplicable. Some of these, no
doubt, are survivals from an earlier
period, when the only mode of fishing in
general use was bottom-fishing. On this
most of the maxims of Izaak Walton will
be found to be based. Such rules as that
a south or west wind is favourable, a
north or east wind unfavourable, to sport
would be applicable mainly to this old-
fashioned method, whereas, in the more
complex and various methods of fishing
now in vogue, many other considerations
would have to be taken into account, and
the whole subject should now be studied
from a more scientific and comprehensive

176 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

point of view, when it will be found that
the effect of weather upon sport will vary
not merely with the kind of fish, but with
the nature of its chief food, with the state
of the water, the direction of the current,
and other conditions too numerous to
specify."

Writing generally as to the best
wind for dry-fly fishing, Mr. Champneys
continues : —

"To secure the natural appearance of
the fly against a strong downstream wind
is almost an impossibility, and the dry-
fly fisherman will probably prefer to take
his chance of an upstream breeze from
the quarters generally considered un-
favourable, viz. north or east, rather than
of a downstream wind from a quarter
usually held to be more conducive to
sport. But for dry-fly or wet, this
ordinary division between favourable and
unfavourable quarters requires some
degree of revision. It is not, in fact,
so much a question of the quarter from
which the wind happens to be blowing at

OF WIND 177

a particular time or spot, as of the quality
of the wind affecting the temperature of
the water. Now, in the first place, the
effect will not be immediate. A change
from a warm to a cold quarter must take
some time to produce a change in the
fly-hatching condition of the water ; also
a wind actually coming from the east in
some particular locality may be but a
partial or subsidiary current and may
possess the quality of that from another
quarter, say the south. These considera-
tions may account for the frequency of
the exceptions, which are more than
sufficient to 'prove the rule.' In fact,
in order fully to analyse the applicability
of the general law, it would be necessary
to ascertain in each instance what wind
had previously prevailed when the
change took place, and whether the
present breeze was a true wind of a
quality determined by passage over
remote regions, or a mere back eddy."

Mr. Champneys' lucid and suggestive
statement of the case might well serve as

12

178 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

Mr. Sydney

Buxton's

experience.

an introduction to the whole subject of
fishermen's weather.

The opinion of a very experienced dry-
fly fisherman is of interest in this place,
by way of showing that even the much-
blamed east wind may bring luck in its
train. Mr. Sydney Buxton, having
admitted that he prefers a S.W. to an E.
wind, adds : " However, an incident on
the Itchen, late in last season (1905), has
rather shaken my theory and belief.
Arriving one evening, in the middle of
August (16th), I found raging a 'beasterly
easterly ' wind. I execrated my luck, for
only once that season had 1 enjoyed a
S.W. wind, and it did seem hard that in
August I should still be pursued by a
downstream wind. The following day
was very bright, and, sure enough, the
east wind was still there, though fortu-
nately not heavy. But something possessed
the trout, perhaps the August E. wind
braced them up.^

1 Mr. Russell writes that, although E. wind is considered
bad on the west side of Scotland, he has caught trout freely

OF WIND 179

"Anyhow, I made what would have
been a big bag on this reach during the
cream of the season, and what for August
was remarkable, i.e. 15 fish weighing 21
lbs., besides putting back six and being
broken by four. That this success was
almost entirely, if not wholly, due to
luck and not to skill was shown by the
result of the following day's fishing. The
east wind had by then changed to a
blustering and rather cold south-west
wind, and, though I lost several fish, I
killed only two (in the morning) and
neither of them large. Further, the fish
on the first day took boldly and were all
well hooked ; indeed, I did not lose one,
except those that broke me. But on the
second day they rose gingerly, and either
failed to hook at all, or were so lightly
hooked that most of them soon came
unfastened. I do not and cannot
attempt to account for the extraordinary

in that district during an evening E. wind after a hot raid-
summer's day. Here also, perhaps, as in Mr. Buxton's
experience, is the result of a bracing breeze after a day of
enervating heat.

180 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

disparity of the two days — a disparity
which would not so much have surprised
me if the result had been reversed.

"On another day, earlier in the year,
on the Beane, with the Mayfly up, though
rather over, I found on arrival a heavy N.E.
wind, with rain, and, though I prowled
about for some considerable time, I saw
not a single fly nor a rising fish, and gave
it up as hopeless."
East wind It lias bccu uotcd that on Loch Leven

iTc^l^"" and the Tweed an east wind is favourable
rivers. to sport. The late Canon Beechey told

me that when he fished the latter river
somewhat regularly every spring during
the seventies, east wind was considered
the very best. Wherever it is an up-
stream wind {i.e. on rivers flowing east-
ward) the same rule obtains with very
few exceptions, of which, however, the
Aberdeenshire Dee must be regarded as
one (R. T. C). Such rivers are the
Haddingtonshire Tyne, on which it is
excellent (R. N.), and the Bandon, of
which Mr. Conner writes : " Apart from

OF WIND 181

the condition of the water, the great
essential is wind. The river runs from
west to east, and I find either wind
equally good for fishing, but I notice
that the salmon throw themselves much
more freely in a westerly (downstream)
wind than in an easterly."

It is the fact of its blowing upstream Explanations

on these east coast rivers which makes ^nd Mr ^ri
it such a favourite ^vith those who fish Hodgson,
on that side. " The wind itself, as usual
near the coast," writes Mr. Hall, " is apt
to be somewhat boisterous, half a gale
from the north-west, or a stiff breeze,
with a cloudless sky, being conditions
absolutely opposed to sport. A light
north-east wind, drawing inland with the
tide and moderating the heat of a July
sun,^ is here the most favourable con-
dition of the weather that can be ex-
perienced. Curiously enough, the prevail-
ing west winds, blowing upstream in
similar streams on the west coast, are a
grievous inconvenience to anglers on the

^ Cf. Mr. Buxton and Mr. Russell supra.

182 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

east side, who have to fish downstream
with a salmon-rod. Finally, it may be
observed that, in the East Anglian fishery
referred to, it is possible at all times to
fish nearly half its available length against
the wind, which eddies remarkably in the
valley crowned with woods. The fish,
however, do not seem to rise in this false
current with much spirit, even when
it does not make the water too rough
for dry-fly work." Mr. Earl Hodgson
offers the following intelligible explana-
tion why the east wind should be less
prejudicial to sport on the east side :
" Trout in waters near the east coast are
not always, as those in the midlands and
west often are, put down by the east wind.
This I attribute to the fact that in day-
time throughout the season the wind is
usually from the sea, land conducting heat
more readily than water ; and that thus,
near the east coast, an east wind in day-
time is a normal condition, to which the
fish are adapted." This recalls Colonel
Bairnsfather's " normal weather " theory.

OF WIND 183

Although, as will presently be shown,
an east wmd is regarded as fatal to sport
on a number of rivers, many corre-
spondents are by no means unfriendly
to it. The following are some of the
favourable opinions : —

" As regards trout taking in east wind ; Evidence
while wind from this quarter is generally ^^rvdnd^^^
unfavourable, especially for lake -fishing,
there are curious exceptions. Loch
Leven notably fishes best in a steady
east breeze, and on rivers trout will often
rise, especially in strongly ruffled pools,
when the river is from the opposite
direction, or even from the north."
(A. M. S.)

"A gentle E. wind has rarely inter-
fered with salmon fishing on days when
fish seemed to be in the humour to rise ;
and I have known the wind veer from
N. to E. without putting them off the
rise." (R. B.)

" A much - hbelled wdnd. In many on the Sand
places, such as Lochs Ard and Leven, it '^^''
is the very best. Whenever it is an

184 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

for Thames
trout ;

on the Otter.

Other cases.

upstream wind, it is likely to be the best
for salmon and trout. In the Sand River
(S. Norway), the E. wind, being down-
stream, makes salmon run fast and rise
badly." (G. A. D.)

Mr. Wheeley has caught Thames trout
in weirs in bitterly cold E. wind and bright
sun, a success for which he gives a curious
explanation. The cold wind, he thinks,
puts down the bleak in the river, which
makes the one used for bait irresistible
in the resulting famine.

"An E. wind is at times good on the
river Otter, particularly early in the
season, but a high red sand cliff on the
left bank of that river shelters the water
from its keenness, which may have some-
thing to do with the result." (J. E. S.)

" E. wind and a fall of temperature in
Merionethshire often increase the desire
of both salmon and sewin to take a bait,
whether fly or minnow." (C. E. M. E.)

"All my best days on trout waters
have been distinguished by sunshine and
east wind." (G. T. B.)

OF WIND 185

"Trout and sea-trout may be caught
in E. wind in the TuUy and Goola lakes,
Connemara." (G. F.)

"There is a large mountain tarn in
Carmarthenshire, on which trout rise
only in an E. wind, possibly because that
alone gives a suitable ripple." (W. W. F.)

" One of the best winds (N.E. is the
other) for reservoir-fishing for rainbow-
trout in April and May." (H. C. G.)

There is, however, no difficulty in Evidence
mustering similar evidence against the ^^""^
wind from this quarter. The following
are examples of this : —

"On the Dee here (Corwen) was a
remarkable hatch of fly — pale watery
duns, methought — but with a pestilent
E. wind, and not a fish moving, except
samlets, though there are both grayling
and trout in the river." (H. T. S.)

"Bad for Tay salmon." (W. O. D.)

"Fatal for trout in the Cloonaghmore
River, Mayo." (G. F.)

" I used to feel satisfied, in fishing for
spring -salmon in Scotland, that with an

186 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

E. wind and bright sun it was as well to
put up one's rod." (C. E. D.)

"On an experience of fishing in
Norway and Lapland covering seventeen
years, I should regard E. wind as fatal
to a rise of brown trout in those countries."
(H. B. B.)

"The worst day in Donegal is when
a harsh E. wind is blowing with either
a dull leaden sky or a bright sun."
(W, E.-J.)

" Bad for carp and tench." (C. H. W.)

"E.N.E. is one of the worst winds
for the Fowey River." (C. B. R.)

"E. wind often puts pollack a little
off the feed and conger still more so."
(C. O. M.)

"E. wind early in the season means
dry, cold weather and usually frost. If
it lasts long, the water will become so
cold that trout will go off their feed and
revert to winter conditions." (J. W. E.)

Several correspondents, unwilling or
unable to commit themselves to definite
praise or condemnation of E. wind, are

OF WIND 187

content to admit its frequent interfer-
ence with sport and to chronicle cases
of exceptional success which they have
had in it. Among these are the fol-
lowing : —

" In May 1891 I started one day with Exceptional
my brother to fish the lower end of mv ^^^^ °^, ^

•' "^ unexpected

water. The Slaney was low and very success.
clear, and the day about the very worst I
ever saw for fishing, with a steel-blue sky,
blazing sun, and cold, boisterous E. wind.
We got down to the bottom pool, a long,
dead stretch of water, full of fish and
well ruffled with the wind ; but, thinking
it a hopeless day, we sat on the bank for
some time in a most despondent mood.
At last I determined to fish the pool, no
easy task, as the wind was blowing dead
across in my face. About my third cast
I rose a fish, and, after a rest, cast over
him again, got hold of him, and killed
him. INIy brother then started fishing,
and in three hours we killed six fish in
about half a mile of water, and we must
have risen about twenty. A more hope-

188 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

less looking day it would be difficult to
imagine." (R. St. L. M.)

Lord Suffolk informs me that Mr.
Barker, who owns the Fairford water on
the Coin, has seen an occasional trout
taken in bitter E. wind.

" I have had good sport with an easterly
wind, but, I think, always with a steady
or rising glass. I have been in rivers
where, evening after evening, at sundown
a N.E. wind has put nearly every fish
down, but I look on squally weather,
from whatever quarter, as the angler's
bete noire" (B. G. D.-C.)

" I once caught a salmon in the loch
above the river (Torridon) when the wind
was E., but as a rule I find even sea-trout
shy in such a case." (G. C.)

" Once in a strong E. gale, with heavy
rain, I caught nine salmon in the Deveron
and rose many more. The fish ceased to
rise as the water became thick." (The
late Lady Bridge.)

" As regards the loch-trout in Orkney,
E. wind is very puzzling. As a rule it

OF WIND 189

is not good, but I have had some of my
best days with E. wind and a cloudless
sky." (A. M. S. G.)

On the whole perhaps, excepting for General
such lochs as lie E. and W., for rivers ^^'■'^'^*-
debouching on the east coast, on which
it is the upstream wind, the verdict is
against east wind. It is associated in the
angler's maledictions with that from the
north. General Dalton regards them as
equally bad for salmon. Mr. Rolt associ-
ates them with the worst conditions for
grayling. They accept, in fact, the old
rhyme, which runs : —

South winds and west
For fishin' are best.
North-east and east
No good in the least.

II. North Wind

The north wind is not so often on its in sea-
trial, and there is some lack of evidence. ^ *"^ '
Its chief significance is along the south
coast, where it is the joy of the salt-water
angler, since for him it means calm seas.

an

uncommon

wind.

190 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

As a matter of fact, his satisfaction is
tempered with other feelings, for better
sport is as a rule enjoyed with ground-
fish during a gentle breeze from the south-
west, as in it the fish feed better and
also congregate more on the inshore
rocks and other grounds, whereas a strong
ofF-shore breeze from the N. is very apt
to drive them out into the deeper water.

When we come to think of it, a N.
wind, pure and unalloyed by a touch of
E. or W., is about the least common of
all. The intervening winds, such as
N.E. and N.W., are more usual, and
they will be considered in this place, as
their influence on fishing is in great
measure due to the element of N.
N.E. wind ^^ ^ ^*u^^> ^ N.E. wind is, if anything,

usually even considered worse for fishing than E. As

worse than E.

Lord Granby puts it : " Any wind which
has any amount of N. in it is the worst
possible one in which to go trout fishing.
The more N. it is, the worse."

" In Banffshire rivers, a nortlierly wind
spoils both fly- and worm-fishing." (J. C.)

CASTING INTO AN AWKWARD CORNER

OF WIND 191

Yet even this has its exceptions. " In
the North of England, good sport is some-
times had with trout in cold N.E. winds."
(C. G. B.)

"N.E. wind is good for rainbow- trout Exceptions
in reservoirs in April and ^lay, the fish
taking the fly during, or immediately
after, rain showers." (H. C. G.)

"On 25th April 1882 I was leaving
home in the afternoon and wanted to
take a fish \vith me. There was a cold
N.E. wind on the North Esk, and I
expected a blank. I made my first cast
about 10.30, and by 12 had four salmon
and lost another, all beautiful fish, though
not large." (C. M'l.)

General O'Callaghan writes, with
absolute correctness for some waters,
that cold N.E. winds are often fatal to
trout fishing, because in them no fly
hatches out. Mr. Buxton is, however,
able to communicate the following inter-
esting dissentient view : —

"On the other hand, I have noticed
that a cold day sometimes produces the

192 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

heaviest and strongest hatch of fly, and
that the fish, perhaps invigorated and
braced, will occasionally rise best with
the N.E. wind, though the casting is
thereby rendered more difficult."

Major Boulton, though regarding a
due E. wind as hopeless, remembers a
spell of N.E. wind in which he had one
of his best days with salmon in the Outer
Hebrides. On that occasion he hooked
no fewer than fourteen fish in a little
over three hours.
Conflicting The wiud from due north is regarded

opinions. ^-^j^ mingled feelings. On the Exe
and Otter it is always considered bad.
It is bad for salmon fishing in the Tay
(W. O. D.), but fair for fishing in
Donegal if not too harsh (W. E.-J.),
for brown trout in Norway and Lapland
(H. B. B.), and for a loch near Edinburgh,
which lies E. and W. (A. W. B.). For
fishing in Lough Conn it is exceptionally
good (J. J. D.).

To N.W. wind the only important
reference in the whole of my correspond-

OF WIND 193

ence is made by Sir Colman Rashleigh,
who describes it as " one of the worst "
for the Fowey River.

III. West Wind

As regards a westerly wind, opinions On an east
are unanimous, excepting in the case of *^°*^*'
those east - coast rivers on which, as
pointed out on an earlier page by Mr.
Hall, it blows downstream, and is conse-
quently a nuisance to the fly-fisher. In
sea-fishing on the east coast, however, as
well as on such portions of the coast of
Devon as face the east, a west wind
gives calm water, but it is also apt to
bring rain. The quarter of the world in
which I remember appreciating it most
as the harbinger of smooth seas was on
the east coast of New South Wales,
between Botany Bay and the mouth of
the Hawkesbury River. In that region
it was impossible to go out after schnapper
and other ocean-fish in boats with any
enjoyment, unless the wind blew off-shore

13

194 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

from the west, which was, however, its pre-
valent quarter during the winter months.
Note by Sir How esseutial to sport a W. wind
Kare ^ ^ °" "fi^y ^6 f^r some rivers is evident from
a note sent by Sir Henry Seton - Karr
on a certain pool, which he knows well,
below Ballyshannon Bridge, on the Irish
Erne . . . "which is worth a long day's
journey to fish, provided only the weather
conditions are favourable. It is always
well stocked with salmon from June to
the end of September, when the rod-
fishing closes, but it is only worth — and
well worth — fishing in a strong westerly
breeze, even a gale, when there is a wave
a foot high on the pool. It is, under
these conditions, hard work getting out
the line, but the salmon then take the
fly, dashing through the wave with a
freedom that they show under no other
circumstances. I can only infer that this
particular state of the water imparts some
peculiar attraction to the appearance of
the fly, which the salmon find it difficult
to resist."

OF WIND 195

From much evidence generally favour- Opinions
able to W. wind, tlie following notes are ^^^JsTvdnd
selected as being of practical application
in the case of specified waters : —

" Good for the Greedy, much of which,
it being a spring river, is too low for
angling after midsummer." (J. D. F.-D.)

" Good for brown trout in Norway and
Lapland." (H. B. B.)

"Good for Tay salmon." (W. O. D.)

" This and S.AV. are best for Donegal"
(W. E.-J.)

" I prefer a W. wind in the Aberdeen-
shire Dee and a tolerably uniform tempera-
ture." (R. T. C.)

" I like a W. wind {i.e. upstream) not
too heavy to cast against for salmon
on a west-coast river like the Kirkaig."
(J. A. H.-B.)

Only, in fact, on east - coast rivers
(where it blows downstream), or on Loch
Leven and some other lochs similarly
situated, is the W. wind opposed to the
best interests of the fisherman. In these
cases, however, it is hopeless. "With a

196 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

W. wind," writes Mr. Chambers, "it used
to be said on Loch Leven that the fisher-
man might as well put up his rod."

IV. South Wind

Though less uncommon than that from
the opposite quarter of the compass, a S.
wind, without admixture of either W. or
E., is not very common in this country.
In Australia, on the other hand, particu-
larly in the summer months, it is not
uncommon, and a "Southerly Buster,"
bringing great seas rolling up to the
Sydney Heads from the South Pole,
makes an inspiring sight, no doubt, for a
marine painter, but puts all sea-fishing
plans in abeyance for days.
Evidence in Although Izaak Walton's fondness for
a S. wind is in great measure explained
by his having fished only in the southern
counties, the wind is almost universally
liked by fishermen. In one case only,
that of the artificial loch near Edinburgh
(which lies E. and W.), referred to by

favour of it.

OF WIND 197

Mr. Black in earlier chapters, is a S. wind
against fishing. By others, however, its
praises are widely sung. It is described
as good for brown trout in Norway and
Lapland (H. B. B.), for loch trout in
Orkney (A. M. S. G.), and for Tay
salmon (W. O. D.). It is the best of
all winds for most of the streams of East
Devon, which flow from N. to S., thereby
making it the upstream wind.

It even seems to redeem the E. wind s.e. and

K S F"

from its baneful condition, and Lord
Granby writes that a warm S.E. wind
is good, and E.S.E. possibly the best of
all winds, for trout fishing.

Many fishermen are also enthusiastic in in praise of
their praises of S.W. wind. For all
manner of sea-fishing on the S. coast it
is unquestionably, when not too strong,
the best of all winds. Mr. Sheringham
considers it as, on the whole, the best of
all winds for fishing. It is also described
as good for the Greedy (J. D. F.-D.), for
Tay salmon (W. O. D.), and for Donegal
fishing generally (W. E.-J.). For the

198 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

Fowey River, S.S.W. is best of all winds
(C. B. R.). Where, as on the Hampshire
rivers, which for the most part run N.E.
and S.W., it blows upstream, the S.W.
wind is, for reasons already explained,
preferable to any other, facilitating ease
and accuracy of casting, and also thereby
assisting the fisherman in rising and hook-
ing the trout. Mr. Buxton remarks that
" the S.W. wind is unfortunately getting
scarcer and scarcer every year. As re-
gards pleasure," he adds, "there is no
comparison between fishing with an up-
stream and downstream wind. On the
whole, too, I should say that the fish
rise better on the mild or warm day
that accompanies a S.W. wind than on
the cold and fairly raw day which goes
with the N.E. wind." It will not be
forgotten that, as quoted earlier in the
present chapter, Mr. Buxton himself
admits an exception in favour of a wind
from a cold quarter under certain con-
ditions.

On the other hand, several corre-

OF WIND 199

spondents repudiate particular qualities, Quarter

T .1 . . . J . . . unimportant

good or otherwise, m any wind, insisting so long as
that the only important condition is that upstream.
it shall blow upstream. Thus : " I always
prefer an upstream wind, from whatever
quarter it blows." (C. E. M. E.)

" The old theory of S. W. wind being
the best for fishing is rubbish. It does
not matter whether the wind is N., E.,
S., or W., so long as it blows upstream.
That is the essential point." (C. G. C.)

Miss Rotha HoUins sends me the Sport in a
following interesting account of a good ^^^
catch made in a " Helm " wind : —

" It is usually in the early part of the
season that things are reversed, and now
and then one has really good sport under
adverse weather conditions. In March or
the beginning of April, owing to the
scarcity of food, the fish cannot afford
to be so particular as later on in the
year when there is a plentiful supply of
fly on the water for them to pick and
choose from.

"I remember one such day, the be-

200 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

ginning of April (1905). I was trout
fishing on the Eden between the villages
of Armathwaite and Lazonby, and had
started out about 10.30, with very little
hope of any sport. It was a cold, dull
day with a strong * Helm ' wind blow-
ing straight downstream.

" The helm wind is well known in the
Lake district and the Eden valley as a
spoiler of all sport. It derives its name
from the helm or helmet of clouds which
forms on the fells of the Pennines and
causes the wind to circulate through the
surrounding country. Woe betide the
fisherman who has gone up for a few
days only, if he is greeted by a blast of
the helm wind on his arrival. At the
best, it means a hard battle for every fish
caught during the next few days.

" I waited awhile on the bank, but could
not see a fish moving in the pools, and it
was too early in the season for them to
have got up into the rough water, so I
knew that my only chance lay in the
tails of the streams. As soon as I com-

OF WIND 201

menced fishing, I realised that the weather
conditions were even worse than I had
anticipated. One had to wait for a lull
in the wind before attempting to cast up-
stream. However, things looked a good
deal brighter when, after my third or
fourth cast, I hooked and landed a fairly
nice fish. This was followed almost
directly by a second, and from the
whole-hearted way they came at the fly
(the invaluable March Brown) it was
evident that they were on the feed. I
wandered up the river, fishing every
likely bit of water, making good use
of the occasional sheltered parts, and
now and then catching an odd one or
two, but I hardly saw a rise except for
a quarter of an hour or so, about 1.30,
when they rose freely. Owing to the
difficulty in casting, it was impossible to
make the most of the short opportunity
offered, and thus I did not add as many
to my basket as I ought otherwise to
have done. After that I did very little
good, but struggled on against the wind

202 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

until about 2.30, when 1 determined to
stop, as it seemed useless going on longer,
and the pangs of hunger warned me that
I had brought no sandwiches with me,
and that I had a good 2 J mile walk
home before me.

" I was surprised on emptying my bag
to find that I had twenty -two, of an
average size for the Eden. The river is
too large and swift for them ever to run
to any size, except a few old ones who
live in the pools and ignore all attempts
to catch them ; but if you fish with a
10-foot rod, and hook a f pounder in the
quick -running water or at the top of a
stream, he will give you all the sport you
could wish for.

" Although I had been deprived of the
angler's chief pleasure in fishing, marking
down each fish, stalking him and watching
him come up and take the fly as it floats
gently over him, I felt that fortune had
smiled on me, and that it would be a long
time before I should have another such day
under equally adverse weather conditions."

OF WIND 203

In taking leave of the subject of wind a veering
as an influence in fishing, it is desirable ^'"
to draw attention to two important
points. The first is, that a wind which
veers all round the compass, bringing
with it changeable and unsettled weather,
is almost certain to spoil the angler's
chances of sport, and it is even worse
than if it blew steadily from an unfavour-
able quarter.

The other point worth considering is, The same
that a wind from any particular quarter, ^"ed"toaU
which is favourable to sport in the spring seasons,
season, may be just the reverse in autumn.
The resulting temperature may be re-
garded as responsible for the difference.
Mr. Buxton's instance of a bitter east
wind bracing trout and making them
hungry in the sultry weather of August
is a case in point Mr. Lloyd Morgan
communicates another interesting illustra-
tion of the same truth. "A south-west
wind," he says, " is the only one for the
spring fishing in the Towy, and at that
season of the year an east wind is simply

204 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

fatal to sport. In summer, on the other
hand, the same river yields at times very
fair sport in a strong east wind." Lord
Suffolk writes that east wind (in dead
water) is the best for the spring fishing
in the Don, whereas the same wind in
autumn, with or without snow-water
or frost, is the worst, and a north-west
wind, with discoloured water, best.

These considerations only bear out
what Mr. Champneys urged earlier in
favour of a more scientific study of the
very complex manner in which the force
and direction of the wind may affect the
angler's sport.

CHAPTER V

OF THUNDER AND LIGHTNING

Danger of lightning — Depressing effect of thunder in
the air — Weather-lore in men and fishes — Storms
follow waterways.

I. Sai-mon and Sea-Thout — Salmon rise during the storm :

in the Torridon ; in the Slaney ; in the North Tyne
and Irish Erne ; in the Spey ; in the Blackwater ; in
Canada ; with thunder threatening ; in the Bandon
River — Evidence against thunder — Thunder good for
eel fishing.

II. Brown Trout — Mr. Earl Hodgson's view — Mr. Sydney

Buxton's experience — Other opinions — Sport in the
Wansbeck ; in the Add — A Mayfly trout in a storm —
Colonel Davies-Cooke's luck — In the Blackwater and
Blackadder — Sir George Brown's experience — Light-
ning in the Black Forest ; in the Belgian Ardennes ;
in Norway — The Thames trout — Mr. Rolt on grayling
and roach — Sir Henry Pottinger's view.

There is, as might be expected, some Danger of
little difficulty in obtaining great variety *^ "'"^'
of information touching the effects of
thunderstorms on sport, owing to the
marked preference which most fishermen

205

206 FISHERMEN'S WEATHEK

have for keeping away from the waterside
under such conditions of the atmosphere.
That, in short, which one correspondent
refers to as "the alarm that it causes to
hypersensitive men and women " tends to
keep folk away from exposure on the
water or beneath the trees that often
fringe the bank. However conducive
other extremes of the British climate
may be to discomfort, or even to ill-
health, lightning is the only condition
which often entails bodily danger. As a
further difficulty, thunderstorms are so
uncommon in some districts, like Orkney
(A. M. S. G.), during the fishing season
that local sportsmen have no opportunity
of learning their effect from experience.
Depressing With all Conditions of weather, scienti-

effectof fically considered in relation to the

thunder m "^

the air. present inquiry, it is necessary to draw

a distinction between those which merely
threaten and those which are accomplished
fact Even on ourselves, " thunder in the
air" has an effect of depression that can
be likened only to that caused by east

OF THUNDER & LIGHTNING 207

wind, and all nature puts on a mood of
tension at the coming of a thunderstorm,
throwing it off the moment the storm
bursts. The passing of the thunder-
clouds seem, particularly if they break
in heavy rain, to leave the air clearer and
the world refreshed.

Since human weather-lore is very crude, Weather-iore
reason being bestowed, so far as we can U^hes"^"'^
judge, at the cost of instinct, we cannot
always tell whether an impending thunder-
storm will burst over our heads or keep
its fury for some other spot. We watch
the familiar grey clouds working up
against the wind, but the exact locality
in which the storm will reach the break-
ing-point is matter of conjecture. As a
rule, the beasts and birds have keener
perception of such developments than
ourselves, and even trout are in many
districts put down by lightning and still
more so by the brcAving of the storm.
Mr. Hall's interesting account of Norfolk
trout, unable to discriminate between
actual storms threatening the locality

208 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

Storms

follow

waterways.

and those "tempests," so called, which
pass out to sea, was cited in the Intro-
duction, and needs no further notice.
Mr. Champneys points out that the
prophetic instinct, which so often enables
fresh-water fishes to foretell the coming
of a thunderstorm, looks like a survival
from a marine habitat, where alone such
prescience would be needed to enable
them to take shelter from the violence
of the waves. No such danger threatens
them in rivers, yet they appear to have
retained the protective instinct, even
where it is to some extent supererogatory.
The influence which thunderstorms
may have on fishing gains added interest
from the well-established fact that these
phenomena follow canals and other water-
ways. From observations made on the
Kaiser Wilhelm Canal by German
officials connected with the Meteoro-
logical Survey, this tendency seems
entitled to general recognition.

OF THUNDER k LIGHTNING 209

I. Salmon and Sea-Trout

With few exceptions, those who have
given evidence on the relations between
til under and fishing are agreed that the
menace of the storm rather than the
storm itself is the deterrent.

" Thunder," writes Sir John Edwards- Salmon rise
Moss, " seems to keep fish do^\ii till the stornf-
storm fairly breaks ; then they will often
rise. ... I have caught a salmon and
played him while I could see it lightning
and hear it thundering over a hill some
three miles away."

Mr. Gilbert Coleridge contributes an
experience in some ways similar.

" It is," he writes, " a common opinion in the
that fish will not take a fly when thunder Tomdon;
is in the air, but I once experienced a
notable exception to this rule. I had
just begun to fish a pool in the Torridon
when two or three brilliant flashes of
lightning began to play about the top of
the hills in full view of the pool, accom-
panied by loud peals of thunder and

U

210 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

heavy rain. I was beginning to fear lest
my rod should attract the lightning, and
was going to leave off and take shelter,
when a salmon rose and took my fly.
Then, perhaps rashly, I decided to take
my risk of being struck, and I soon landed
my fish. I have never, before or since,
heard of fish taking in like circumstances,
for the flashes were most brilliant, and
the thunder very loud, coming from steep
precipices that almost overhang the pool."
Colonel St. Leger Moore had, while
fishing the Slaney, an experience, if
anything, still more remarkable of catch-
ing salmon in a storm,
in the "In April 1886," he writes, "I was

laney; fjgj^jjjg ^\^q rivcr Slaucy, of which 1

rent a considerable stretch, in apparently
perfect fishing weather, the river itself
being in good order and colour. I had
only risen one fish up to 1.30 p.m., when
black clouds came over the sky and
enormous spots of rain began to fall, and
a baddish thunderstorm broke. I was
reeling in my line, intending to get under

OF THUNDER & LIGHTNING 211

a rock, wlien I saw a fish turn under
my fly. I cast again, rose, liooked and
eventually landed him. I then went on
down the pool, and at the tail of it I
killed another fish after a good fight. In
the stream below, I hooked and lost a
third fish. All this time the thunder was
crashing overhead. The storm ceased
just after, and I did not get another
fish till quite late in the evening. I had
always previously thought that it was
utterly useless fishing in a thunderstorm."

Other experiences of salmon caught in in the North
thunderstorms are communicated by Sir ir^hgrne-
Ford North and JNIr. Bagot, the latter
remembering one of the best afternoons
of salmon fishing in the North Tyne that
he ever enjoyed, during a heavy thunder-
storm near the end of September. Sir
Ford North's memories of success under
such conditions include days on the Irish
Erne and Spey. "One day," he writes
with reference to the former river, "a
violent thunderstorm came up, with ex-
treme darkness ; and while the thunder

212 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

was pealing very loudly overhead, but
without rain, I hooked and landed two
fine salmon. So far as I could judge, I
might have continued fishing with equal
success, but that the rain suddenly came
down in torrents, and from that time not

intheSpey; a fish would stir. I had," he adds, "a
similar experience on the Spey, except
that on that occasion the rain came down
in torrents while I was landing my first
fish." This distinction between wet and
dry storms is of still more importance in
the case of trout, which, being more con-
cerned than salmon with the food-supplies,
are supposed to be affected by coming
storms owing to their anticipation of rain
and fresh stores of worms.

in the The foregoing cases of salmon caught

during the raging of the storm were in
accord with what has already been said
of the fish rising under such conditions.
Much more common is success immedi-
ately after the storm is over. " I have,"
writes Colonel Deane, "found thunder
affect fishing everywhere, and when it is

Blackwater ;

OF THUNDER & LIGHTNING 213

over the fishing is often better than it
was before the storm. This I recently
found to be the case in the Blackwater,
where, directly after a thunderstorm,
I killed three good salmon. I have
found much the same to be the case
in India."

More unusual is it to catch fish in that
state of impending storm of which gillies
in some districts speak as " fire in the air."
Even with the atmosphere in this electri-
cal condition, however, my correspondence
contains cases of sport. The following
are cases in point : —

"My general experience of spring in Canada?
salmon in Scotland," wrote the late Sir
Clinton Dawkins, " was that no fish would
take in thundery weather. But I am
bound to say that the last time I killed
a salmon (in the Ristagouche, Eastern
Canada) I found the fish rising freely in
close, thundery weather. I do not know
whether this is peculiar to Canada."

"I caught a salmon this year (1905) on
a ' Wilkinson ' fly just before a thunder-

214 FISHERMENS WEATHER

storm, but I fancy that this is very
exceptional." (W.)
with thunder " Last year (1904) I caught a salmon

threatening ;.,.,-riA i ti

m Little Loch Awe (above Inchnadamph)
on a heavy, thundery day, about half an
hour after a distant peal of thunder,
which did not, however, clear the air
much. It was a rather cold August day,
as well as heavy and thundery." (F. C. B.)
in the Mr. Conucr holds views on the subject

mver?" opposed to the theories of which we have
taken account, for he remarks that he
never in all his experience knew of a
salmon being taken in the Bandon River
during a thunderstorm, whereas "this
year, the morning before thunder com-
menced, fish were taking, and the day
after they took well."
Evidence The forcgoiug succcsses may, however,

thunder ^^ regarded as exceptions to the rule.
The majority of salmon-fishermen con-
demn thunder without reservation. Sir
James Fergusson "never saw any good
done in it " ; and Sir W. Dalgleish speci-
fies that it spoils sport in the Tay.

LOCH TROOL

OF THUNDER & LIGHTNING 215

According to Sir Samuel Montagu, it is
equally prejudicial to sea-trout fishing in
the Itchen, and Mr. Munro Edwards,
writing of Welsh streams and lakes, has
found that it makes both salmon and
sewin dour, though both may be caught
after the passing of the storm, a view
confirmed by General Dalton and some
others. Perhaps the most scathing criti-
cism of all is Mr. Barker's assurance that
he regards it as "fatal, except for eels."
What connection there may be between Thunder
thunder and eels I do not know, but l^iuJ''^ ^^
Mr. Wheeley affirms that such weather
actually favours sport, if sport it can be
called, with that fish. The fact is given
only for the naturalist, for that any
sportsman could deliberately seek to learn
the best weather for catching eels is ex-
ceedingly improbable.

II. Brown Trout

Thundery weather is regarded as hostile
to trout fishing in many widely separated

216 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

districts,^ but there is also varied evidence

of baskets of trout being made in spite

of it.

Mr. Earl With the helpful side of thunder in

Hodgson's ^j,^^^ fishing Mr. Earl Hodgson deals

view. o o

from that non-committal "symptomatic"
standpoint of his, which evokes the same
admiration as the logic of an astute leader
of modern politics.^ " Thunder," he writes,
"is a great help. That is to say, the
changes of atmosphere of which thunder
is a symptom are beneficent. Some-
times the trout, which have been lying
low for many hours during the gradual
degeneration of the atmosphere, rise
well soon after the storm has broken.

1 E.g. on the Exe and Otter (J. E. S.), in Shetland
(J. S, T.), and in Banifshire (J. C).

2 Mr. Earl Hodgson remarks, with reference to this
criticism: "My half- sheet of notepaper seems as un-
fortunate as Mr. Balfour's. Where is the difficulty ? Take
this case. Thunder is noise caused by explosions in the
clouds. Is it the noise which keeps the trout down for a
time before the storm? Clearly it cannot be, for there is
no noise. Is it noise during the storm, or remembrance
of it soon after, that brings them up again ? No ; the effect
results from some atmospheric change due to the hghtning.
Therefore thunder in its relation to the moods of trout is
casual rather than causal, incidental, a mere symptom. "

OF THUNDER & LIGHTNING 217

Almost always, if the storm has been
thorough and accompanied by much rain,
they give good sport for a considerable
time after the storm has passed."

Mr. Sydney Buxton's view is that a Mr. Sydney
thunderstorm clears the air and cheers up experience.
the trout. In illustration of its beneficial
effect on chalk-stream fishhig, he quotes
the following : —

*' One day, a year or two ago, quite
early in September, fishing in the Itchen
in a N.E. wind, there had been up to
5 o'clock neither rise, fly, nor fish. There
came up a sudden thunderstorm, with
heavy rain, lasting for about Ij hours.
During that time I rose, hooked and
lost several fish. They rose very short.
Directly the storm ceased, the fish also
ceased to rise absolutely. The record
bag on this fishing was, I believe, made
some years ago on a day of prolonged
thunderstorms."

Dr. Cheadle, writing of the same
method and locality, considers that trout
rise better after than during the storm.

218 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

Other Lord Granby takes the less hopeful

opinions, ^jg^ |.jjg^|. thunder usually puts all trout

off their feed, though he has known occa-
sions when a storm has raged and trout
have risen simultaneously. As in the
case of salmon, trout, though as a rule
slack just before a storm, will often feed
well while it is in progress. " Thunder in
the air," the late Canon Beechey wrote to
me a few weeks before his death, " is fatal
to success in fly-fishing for trout, but
when the storm breaks, the rise is often
furious." Of brown trout in Norway
and Lapland, Dr. Baker writes : " No rise
takes place while the storm is pending.
Directly the storm breaks, the rise begins
vigorously." "Before thunder," writes
Mr. Russell, "when the atmosphere is
charged with electricity, trout do not take
a fly well, but during a thunder-rain on
one occasion I had the best rise of trout
almost that I ever remember seeing."
Major Godley, on the other hand, has
found that trout "generally rise immedi-
ately before a thunderstorm," a most

OF THUNDER ^: LIGHTNING 219

interesting opinion as the result of long
experience, because it is directly opposed
to the general verdict on the subject.

General Desmond O'Callaghan once
made a big basket in one of the worst
thunderstorms he ever stayed out in.

" This was on the Wansbeck (Northum- Sport in the
berland). A black sky and impending ^"^ '
rain kept all the fish down until about
mid-day, when the storm burst. Amid
vivid lightning, sheets of rain and occa-
sional sliarp hailstorms, with big (and very
painful) hailstones, the fish began to rise
freely. On that occasion, at any rate, the
electrical conditions did not hinder the
fish from feeding."

Colonel Malcolm recalls what he in the Add.
describes as "the most sporting, mean-
to-have-it " rise of trout in all his experi-
ence, on the river Add, which empties
into Loch Crinan. This was during a
heavy hailstorm and between claps of
thunder pealing some little distance away.

Lord Suffolk tells me that the
Dowager Lady Suffolk, an enthusiast with

220 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

A Mayfly the fly-rod, once caught a fine trout in a
storm "^ violent thunderstorm at Charlton (near
Malmesbury) on a Mayfly in June. The
weather is described as " fairly crackling at
the time," and it must have been anything
but encouraging to a lady to stay out in.

On the whole, trout are considered

more susceptible to impending thunder

than salmon. On the occasion, already

referred to, on which Prof. Burkitt caught

a salmon in thundery weather in Little

Loch Awe, the party were also fishing

for trout, but caught very few.

Colonel Colonel Davies - Cooke, who draws

Cook?s attention to the manner in which trout are

luck. apt to leap and rise short, with thunder

threatening, relates an extraordinary

lucky day during a violent storm : —

" It hailed and rained in torrents, and
there was almost continuous thunder and
lightning. It was in June, about the
year 1886, and the Mayfly was on. I
was on the water about 9.30 a.m. and
started with a Mayfly and an Alder. A
heavy storm had been gathering all the

OF THUNDER & LIGHTNING 221

morning, and at first I could do nothing ;
but when the storm burst, the trout
began to rise, three out of four taking the
Mayfly, and I was kept fully employed.
I therefore took off the Alder and con-
tinued with one Mayfly, as there were
many weeds and stumps. It was quite a
small stream, a brook that one could cover
with a line as long again as the rod. . . .
I was wet to the skin in no time. By
about two the storm ceased, and so did I,
for the rise was over, but I had caught
22 trout weighing ITJ lbs. As far as I
know, it was the best bag ever made in
that water, and I have fished it for over
fifty years. Alas, its glory is departed,
and it is no longer worth fishing, for the
good little river now supplies three water
companies ! "

Colonel Deane's capture of three in the Black-
salmon in the Blackwater, directly after Biackadder.
a thunderstorm, has been already quoted.
On the Biackadder, Mr. Noble, fishing
with a friend, caught his share of a basket
of fifteen trout during a raging storm.

222 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

" We found the river very low, and it
was impossible to approach the bank
without the fish seeing every movement.
Towards evening, a very severe thunder-
storm passed over our heads : you seemed
to feel the warm flash of the lightning all
over you, and next day's newspapers told
of people, as well as cattle and horses,
killed by the storm."

After the storm has exhausted itself, or
moved on elsewhere, trout, as Sir Douglas
Brooke points out, often rise freely.
Sir George " On scvcral occasious," writes Sir

George Brown, *' when I have been over-
taken by a sudden thunderstorm, and no
shelter has been available, I have observed
that the fish, which have previously taken
little or no notice of the fly, have risen
madly, but in this connection I have also
observed that while I have hooked a fish
at nearly every cast, I have, probably in
my anxiety to land as many as possible
while the storm lasted, lost a great many
before I could get them within reach of
the landin^c-net."

Brown's
experience

OF THUNDER & LIGHTNING 223

Two experiences of Continental
streams in districts much visited by
English fly-fishers, further illustrate this
biting mood of trout in storms : —

*'I once had a remarkable experience Lightning
in the Black Forest, in a river which ^^^^? ^^

' Black Forest;

opens out into a wide, still, shallow pool,
which, I thought, contained only white
fish. One day, in one of the most terrify-
ing storms I was ever out in, trout rose
madly all over it. This was the only
time I had ever seen them rise there,
and, being young, I was fool enough to
stay out and make a big bag of them,
though to this day I cannot understand
how the rod did not attract the lightning."
(G. A. D.)

"Thunder is supposed to affect fish in
the same way in which it depresses or
alarms hypersensitive and nervous men
and women. The theory is that fish
know when a storm of thunder and
lightning is brewing, and that they seek
shelter and refuse to feed. IVly own
experience is that, generally speaking.

224 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

in the

Belgian

Ardennes

in Norway.

fish are sluggish while thunder-clouds are
gathering, but exceedingly active after
the first flash of lightning. Trout often
rise eagerly to tlie fly during a thunder-
storm, provided that it is not accompanied
by heavy rain.

"While fishing in the Belgian Ardennes
this autumn (1905), I found the trout of
a small stream in rising humour through-
out a heavy, thundery day. After the
first rumble of thunder, the trout rose
with increased avidity. But it must be
noted that only a few drops of rain fell,
and that the actual storm was of short
duration. I think that during pro-
longed unsettled weather, when the
atmosphere is charged with electricity,
fish are more or less shy and off their
food." (W. M. G.)

During his Norwegian trips, on the
other hand, Mr. Bryden found trout put
off the feed by thunderstorms. " During
the summer of 1893," he writes, " I
enjoyed some exceptionally good brown-
trout fishina: in various lakes and streams

OF THUNDER & LIGHTNING 225

in the vicinity of the Hardanger Fjord.
This lasted from the first week in June
to about the second week in July. Then
we had thunder for some days, and the
weather became unsettled. The trout
went off extraordinarily, and, after they
had come at our lures with the wonderful
greed that Norsk trout are accustomed to
display early in the season, we could, for
about ten days, do very little with them.
From the time the fine spell was broken
by thunder, in fact to the end of July,
sport was comparatively indifferent."

We have already seen how the Thames The Thames
trout may be caught in the most in-
clement weather, hail and snow appar-
ently conducing to success in pursuit of
it. Mr. Wheeley remembers taking one
of 7J lbs. when worm-fishing for barbel in
a fearful thunderstorm. "Evening had
set in, and the fish had to be played and
landed in the light afforded by the vivid
flashes of lightning."

Colonel St. Leger Moore once got
16 large white trout, some weighing up to

15

226 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

Sj lbs., out of a loch "with lightning
playing all over the water."
Mr. Roit on This practically concludes the evidence
Sack"^^"^ touching thunder, though Mr. Rolt re-
calls fishing in a thunderstorm for gray-
ling, without any result beyond catching
several brace of trout, which were, of
course, returned to the water. He adds
that roach seem to decline a bait when a
storm is brewing, or even when it is
raging, but that they soon recover their
appetites and bite ravenously as soon as
it is over.

Sir Henry Pottinger condemns thunder,
as he did east wind, in general terms, and
the fact of so much of his fishing having
been done in Norway lends special interest
to his attitude in view of Mr. Bryden's
Norwegian experience just quoted.
Sir Henry " I havc," lie writcs, " no hesitation in

Pottinger s gavinff that almost invariably thunder,

view. JO J ^

especially when accompanied by vivid
lightning, is the fisherman's enemy.
Friends have indeed told me that they
have taken fish right through a thunder-

OF THUNDER & LIGHTNING 227

storm, but I have myself always found
that it puts the fish down, and that even
in thundery weather, without an actual
storm, it is very difficult to get rises.
After the storm has completely passed
away, fish will sometimes begin to take
quite freely."

In most of the chapters in this book
the reader will find, and, after reading the
Introduction, will have been prepared to
find, considerable divergence of opinion,
but in no case perhaps is this conflict of
evidence more striking than in respect
of thunderstorms, to which some of my
correspondents seem indifferent, others
actively hostile, while a few have in
special cases had to thank them for
better sport than they ever enjoyed in
the same water under more enjoyable
conditions of weather.

CHAPTER VI

OF FOG AND MIST

Actual danger of fog — Mr. Champneys' distinction be-
tween dry- and wet-fly— Experience of Welsh fisher-
men— Mr. Earl Hodgson's view — Mr. Sheild and
others on effects of cold mist.

I. Evidence against Fog and Mist : in trout-fishing ; in

fishing for salmon or sea-trout.

II. Cases op Success — With salmon — Experience of Sir

Ford North — Fog in sea-fishing— ^Grayling feed in a
fog; also roach — Mr. Sheringham on morning and
evening mist — Discomfort of bad weather — Moral of
the book.

Actual With a few interesting exceptions, chiefly
^angero -^ favour of grayling and roach, corre-
spondents agree in condemning fog,
whether brooding on the mountain-tops
or actually lying on the surface of the
water, two characteristic positions that
are not by any means always coincident.
In a few districts, of course, fog may
actually constitute a danger even graver

228

OF FOG AND MIST 229

than lightning, but these are of purely
local interest in cases like that alluded to
in the well-known Devonshire tag : —

lu a Dartmoor fog
Stick to your grog.
Or yew'll fell in a bog.

Most fishermen who have studied the Mr.
influence of foff on scientific Hues draw Champneys'

" distinction

an interesting and important distinction between dry-
between the ways in which this condition ^° *^ ^'
of the atmosphere affects fishes that rise
after the perfect insect and those others
that feed on the larvse or other sub-
merged food, or, in other words, as Mr.
Champneys puts it, between dry and wet
fly-fishing. It is by checking the natural
hatch, the appearance of which is usually
inter alia a matter of temperature, that
a mist on the water puts trout down.
Looking back on his experiences of dry-
fly fishing, Mr. Champneys is unable to
recall a solitary exception to failure in
foggy weather, and he has invariably
found the evening rise on the Test cease
abruptly as soon as an almost m visible

230 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

Experience of

Welsh

fishermen.

Mr. Earl

Hodgson's

view.

film has formed on the surface of the
water. Fishmg wet, on the other hand,
in which the drowned fly must resemble
an aquatic larva, he has more than once
succeeded in making a good bag of trout
in a dense fog.

Intelligible as this distinction unques-
tionably is, it is not to be denied that
there are cases in which even a sunk bait
is rejected of trout while fog is about.
Welsh fishermen told Mr. Gallichan,
who has done much fishing in the
Principality, that they found it difficult,
if not impossible, to make a basket of
trout with worm, once the mist descended
more than halfway down the slopes of
the hills. This would seem to indicate
that mist on the mountain-tops is power-
less to affect the rise, but such is not the
case elsewhere.

Of the adverse influence of fog on the
fisherman's catch, Mr. Earl Hodgson
takes his customary "symptomatic" view.
Personally, he admits having invariably
failed to make the good baskets in foggy

OF FOG AND MIST 231

weather, of which he has both heard and
read ; but, even so, he feels bound to
regard fog less as the actual cause of
trout not feeding than as the symptom of
the cause.

One view, by no means unpopular Mr. SheUd
with trout-fishermen, is that the baneful ''"'^"^^f^

' on effects of

effects of fog are almost wholly a matter cold mist.
of a fall in the temperature. "Fog or
mist," writes Mr. Sheild, "is fatal to
trout fishing, especially when the atmo-
sphere is cold. Every practical trout-
fisherman knows how trout never rise
well in lakes when the hills are shrouded
in mist. And in that most enjoyable
sport, night-fishing for trout in June or
July, the advent of a mist on the river
will stop the most furious sport as if by
magic."

Major Wynn Eyton also attributes
the slackness of the trout to the sudden
fall in temperature, in support of which
view he remarks that "even the light
evenhig mists, that rise over the water
on summer evenings, put the fish down

232 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

at once, although the surface of the water
may be strewn with lialf-drowned flies."

I. Evidence against Fog and JMist

In trout Whatever the causes, whether the
fishing; (jjj-gc^ result of a fall in temperature
or some more subtle influence that we
know nothing of, fog is regarded by most
trout-fishermen as detrimental to success.
This is the view taken by Lord Granby,
Mr. Barrington, and many others. Of
Swedish trout, Admiral Kennedy writes :
" If there is mist on the mountains, or
rising from the water, the fish retire at
once, and the sportsman may just as well
do likewise." Similarly, of Norway and
Lapland, Dr. Baker says : " The rise
stops directly the mist reaches the water.
Even when mist is on the mountains,
high above the water, the rise is poor."

Colonel Davies- Cooke considers that
" sport is ended when fog or mist comes
creaming over the mountain-tops."

"The white mists," writes Mr. Gallichan,

OF FOG AND MIST 233

" which arise from rivers during the
summer after sunset, often cause a
sudden cessation of an evening rise of
trout."

Nor is a condition of fog any better,
in the opinion of many experienced
fishermen, for salmon or sea-trout. The
following extracts from letters will serve
to illustrate how general this opinion
is: —

"Mist on the top of the high hills is
almost invariably bad for sea-trout and
salmon in the Western Highlands." (J. B.)

" Evening fog generally puts an end to in fishing

^wri • j_ • 1 for salmon

an evenmg rise. Where mist is low or sea-trout.
down on the hills, salmon rarely take
well." (G. A. D.)

" If a sea-fog is coming on, fish will
never rise and very seldom, if ever, show.
I have been out on the loveliest fishing
morning, when one expected great things
. . . and seen nothing. This was in-
explicable till the approach of a wall
of sea- fog in the afternoon solved the
mystery." (J. E.-M.)

234 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

"Fog is fatal to fishing for either
salmon or trout, but more especially for
salmon." (C. G. C.)

" It is useless to fish for salmon in the
Bandon River during a fog." (H. D. C.)

" It is not usual in the Torridon to get
rises when there is a mist on the hill-
tops." (G. C.)

" I distrust especially low clouds cling-
ing to the mountain sides, which probably
mean fog in the south." (A. E. G.-H.)

" I never think there is much use in
fishing in the Aberdeenshire Dee for
salmon when there is mist on the hills."
(R. T. C.)

*' On the Awe, the gillies say fish will
not rise when there is a mist or clouds
hanging about the hills." (J. C. R.)

" Fog is bad for sea-trout fishing in the
Itchen." (S. M.)

"Mist near the surface of the water
keeps salmon down." (C. G. B.)

" I should regard fog as an enemy of
the salmon-fisherman." (W.)

" Fog is bad for all fishing." (C. H. W.)

OF FOG AND MIST 235

These are some among many opinions
adverse to fog.

II. Cases of Success

On the other hand, my correspondence
contains several evidences of success with
trout, sahnon, grayling and roach, though
in the case of the first two these are
evidently regarded by the fishermen
themselves as exceptions to the rule.

Only two praise fog in general terms,
and that only when it is lifting, or broken
by gleams of sunshine. Captain Edg-
worth-Johnstone writes in praise of such
a condition on Donegal waters, and Mr.
Gallichan considers fog less depressing
to fish when it occurs during a frost,
with sunshine faintly visible through it.

There are not in the whole correspond-
ence more than three or four actual records
of good baskets of trout in foggy weather.
Sir James Fergusson has " known a great
basket of trout caught in a fog, in a
loch where the trout are often very shy."

236 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

Sir Thomas Esmonde has " often killed
trout in the evening, with a slight mist
on the water " ; and Mr. Noble re-
members on one occasion filling his
basket in the Haddingtonshire Tyne,
fishing from 11 p.m. until daybreak, with
a thick Scotch mist about.

These are meagre evidences of good
sport with trout in a fog, out of over
eighty letters that make some reference
to that condition of weather, and it is
perhaps reasonable to conclude that it
militates against sport with this fish more
even than with most others.
With salmon. Not that there is much evidence of
salmon taking in foggy weather, but in
two cases the success was so marked that
lack of it may be rather due to unwilling-
ness of fishermen to fare forth under such
miserable conditions, which are, moreover,
traditionally associated with bad luck,
than to actual slackness of the salmon.
Thus, Sir Colman Rashleigh actually
remembers having made some of his best
catches in the Fowey River on still, foggy

OF FOG AND MIST 237

days. This qualification suggests, in
view of what was said in earlier chapters
of the advantage of wind, rain, or hail in
imparting a ripple to the surface, that
the extreme stillness commonly associated
with a fog may in part be responsible for
the indifferent sport enjoyed by fly-
fishermen under such conditions.

The most remarkable experience of
successful salmon fishing in a fog is com-
municated by Sir Ford North, who writes
as follows : —

"You know how fatal to success in Experience of

fishing a mist is supposed to be. I have j^^^^j^
often found this to be so, to my cost,
in a prolonged experience. One morning,
early in October, about 9 a.m., I went
down to fish my water on the Spey.
There was a very dense mist all round,
with a frosty air, though, looking up-
wards, the sky seemed bright, as if the
mist would clear in an hour or so and
leave a fine day. When my rod and
line were ready, I did not dream of
beginning to fish till the mist cleared

238 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

away. My gillie said, however, that we
ought not to waste time, but I derided
the idea of fishing in such a state of the
atmosphere. However, I yielded to his
remonstrance, and in three-quarters of an
hour, before the fog had gone, I had
two salmon on the bank. Then the day
became beautifully fine and bright, and
I never rose another fish, though I have
often caught fish on equally bright
days. My gillie, a very sharp, shrewd
fellow, rested his advice to begin on
instinct rather than on experience. I am
not myself partial to fishing in a fog. I
have often found it painfully useless, and
I quote this instance not as establishing
any rule, but rather as furnishing an ex-
ception to one."
Fog in sea Of fog in sca-fishing I have little ex-

^ '"^' perience. Such weather is so dreaded
at sea that every precaution is taken to
avoid it. Few ever dream of embarking
with any probability of fog during the
day, and fewer still stay out on the
grounds after the first faint indication

OF FOG AND MIST 239

of thick weather. One occasion I recall,
however, in the estuary of the river Teign,
where we were perfectly safe one June
morning, bass fishing just within the bar,
for the simple reason that no tug or other
vessel would dare to run in or out of that
narrow waterway until the fog lifted.
During a thick fog off the moor, which
completely enveloped banks less than fifty
yards on either side of the boat, there
was a mad rise of bass all over the water,
and I succeeded in catching a number
of small "herring-size" fish on the fly —
one of the few occasions on which I have
tried that method, as I fish as a rule for
the bigger bass, and these take only the
living: sand-eel. I can also remember
making a great catch of whiting off the
Eddystone Lighthouse while anchored
in an impenetrable fog.

The grayling appears at times to feed Grayling feed
in spite of fog. Mr. Sheringham includes '"* °^'
it with pike and perch among those fish
that are not invariably put down by foggy
weather; and Mr. Rolt remarks on the

240 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

same subject : " When the thick mists of
autumn steal over the land, the theory
is that fishing is no good. On several
occasions this has been proved erroneous
in the case of grayling. In the early
morning, too, before the watery vapour
has risen off the water, grayling have
been caught with the sunk fly." Mr.
Marston also has known grayling (and
trout) rise on misty evenings in the
Itchen, when at times it was impossible
to see more than thirty or forty yards
over the water,
also roach. The roach is another fish which is even

said to feed keenly during a fog. Several
writers allude to this peculiarity of roach.
"On the Norfolk Broads," writes Mr.
Gallichan, "the * water- smoke,' which
rises suddenly, sometimes in the middle
of a warm day, does not appear to affect
bream and roach." Mr. Marston re-
members catching roach as fast as he
could land them when the fog was so
thick that he could only just see his float.
Mr. Rolt also notes that roach bite keenly

OF FOG AND MIST 241

in foggy weather, " though," as he quaintly
adds, " fishing when the end of the roach-
pole can scarcely be seen is hardly an
exhilarating amusement." Mr. Matthews
recalls an even yet more striking success
with roach in a fog so dense that, while
fishing, he could hear other anglers talking,
but was unable to see them. It was
in the river Colne, and on this occasion he
left Waterloo with a number of members
of the Piscatorial Society in a typical
London fog, and the party caught over
1 00 lbs. of roach.

Writing of the effect of fog on coarse Mr.
fish, Mr. Sheringham distinguishes be- on moming
tween harmless morning mist, on the and evening

^ mist.

melting of which, about 5.30 a.m., the
fish feed greedily, from evening mist,
which he considers fatal to all non-
migratory fish. The summer mist of the
moorland Mr. Sheringham regards as
practically a form of rain, and, as such,
in no way prejudicial to trout fishing
in those localities where it occurs.

Mr. Rolt's remark above, touching the

16

242 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

Discomfort lack of exhilaration in fishing for roach
weattier ^^ ^ thick fog, brings us appropriately, at
the conclusion of the book, back to the
programme that bad weather would be
discussed without any regard for its con-
nection with the sportsman's discomfort.
The horrors of the British chmate have
been contemplated in the foregoing pages
from the standpoint of fishes rather than
from that of men. Indifference to unspeak-
able weather is among the keen fisherman's
pronounced eccentricities. Those, in fact,
who are not prepared to bear a good deal
of discomfort from this source will hardly
find outdoor sport of any kind to their
liking within the limits of the British
Isles.
Moral of the To thosc, liowcver, who snap their
fingers at torrid sun or pouring rain, who
laugh at the sting of hailstones or the bite
of frost, who reck not of the danger from
lightning or from fog, this book offers
one advice, and that is, that they should
never despair of good sport under con-
ditions that tradition and the text-books

book.

CHANGING THE FLY

OF FOG AND MIST 243

condemn as hopeless. If the evidence
collected in the foregoing pages means
anything, it means that all manner offish,
game fish, coarse fish and sea-fish, are liable
to take a fly or other lure in any and every
condition of the atmosphere, in any wind,
in all temperatures. To him is the victory
who persists in the face of apparent
hostility on the part of the elements. Yet
it is hoped that, although the results of
the conclusions arrived at in these pages
may thus be summed in a single sentence,
the records and experiences by which,
step by step, these have been arrived at
will not be without practical value and
considerable interest for the sportsman
who has a mind for the rhyme and reason
of his art, and who seeks to know a little
more than merely how to throw a fly and
play a salmon.

244 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

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INDEX

n. refers to note at foot of page.

Adams, Mr. Beale (quoted),

67
Add, the, 45, 219
Alder, 220, 221
Alu, the, 151
America (see also Canada),

Notes from, 14, 16
Ard, Loch, 183
Ardennes, the, 45, 224
Argyllshire, 46
Armathwaite, 5, 200
Assynt, Loch, 74
Australia, 193, 196
Avon, the Wiltshire, 162
Awe, Little Loch, 214, 220
Awe, the, 25, 46, 234

Bagot, Mr. R. (quoted), 32,

45, 77, 89, 90, 156, 183,

211
Bairnsfather, Lieut. - Col.

P. R. (quoted), 22, 98,

133, 182
Baker, Dr. H. B. (quoted),

115, 152, 186, 192, 196,

197, 218, 232
Ballyshannon Bridge, 194
Bandon, the, 8, 61, 77, 128,

143, 158, 172, 180, 214,

234
Banffshire, 85, 190, 216 n.
Bauu, the, 82, 170

Barbel, 20, 39, 147 (and ».),

225
Barker, the Rev, W. (quoted),

32, 90, 167, 215
Barle, the, 13
Barrington, Mr. C. G., C.B.

(quoted), 95, 114, 143,

191, 232, 234
Bass, 35, 36, 47, 70, 123,

173, 239
Beane, the, 180
Beechey, the late Canon

(quoted), 82, 120, 180,

218
Bell, Dr. Joseph (quoted),

233
Beoraik, Lake, 116
Berwickshire, 118
Bickerdyke, John (quoted),

53-56
Billet, 170 71.
Black, Mr. A. W. (quoted),

87, 112, 147, 192, 197
Blackadder, the, 45, 118, 221
Black Forest, the, 45, 223
Blackness of water, 66
Black water, the, 213, 221
Bleak, 19, 184
Border streams, 136, 151
Botany Bay, 193
Boulton, Major (quoted), 14,

43, 86, 192

248

INDEX

249

Breadalbane^ the Marquess

of (quoted), 130, 162
Bream, 41, 85, 99, 148, 168,

240
Bride, the, 99
Bridge, the late Lady

(quoted), 95, 141, 159,

188
Bright, Dr. (quoted), 9, 20,

37, 113
Brixham, 43, 173
Broadfoot, Colonel (quoted),

151
Brooke, Sir Douglas (quoted),

86, 147, 153, 222
Brooke, the Rev. J. M. S.

(quoted), 6
Brown, Sir G. T. (quoted),

74, 153, 184, 222
Brown, Mr. (late Secretary

of the Loch Lomond

Angling Association), 56
Brown, Mr. J. (quoted),

71
Brvden, Mr. H. A. (quoted),

" 97, 116, 170, 224, 226
Buckinghamshire, 84
Budleigh Salterton, 151
Bulkeley, Sir R. (quoted),

135
Burkitt, Prof. F. C. (quoted),

74, 101, 214, 220
Buxton, the Right Hon.

Sydney (quoted), 19, 44,

107, 134, 169, 178,

179 n., 181 n., 191, 198,

203, 216 n.

Caldwell, Colonel (quoted),

85, 114, 124, 144, 180,

195, 234
Canada, Notes from, 8, 66,

161, 213
Cantlie, Mr. James (quoted),

85, 115, 190, 216 n.

Carmarthenshire, 86, 119,

185
Carp, 85, 99, 168, 186
Chjilk streams, 14
Chambers, Mr. C. E. S.

(quoted), 196
Champneys, Mr. Basil

(quoted), 40, 46, 159,

160, 175, 176, 177, 204,

208, 229
Char, 98, 170
Charlton, 220
Cheadle, Dr. (quoted), 217
Chess, the, 84
Chetham (quoted), 172
Chree, Dr. C. (quoted), 78,

84
Chub, 39, 55, 147, 148, 167
Climate, the British, 23, 24,

25, 242
Cloonaghmore, the, 185
Clouds, 82, 107, 109, 234
Coalfish, 170 n.
Coarse fish, 55, 148, 149,

175, 241
Cod, 158, 170 n.
Cold weather, 19, 140-150
Coleridge, the Hon. G.

(quoted), 45, 68, 80, 114,

162, 188, 209, 234
Coley, the, 13
Collingwood, Col. (quoted),

199, 234
Coin, the, 84, 138, 188
Colne, the, 241
Colour of water, 121-123
Conger, 89 n., 186
Conn, Lough, 192
Connemara, 185
Conner, Mr. H. D. (quoted),

8, 61, 77, 128, 143, 168,

180, 214, 234
Coquet, the, 154
Corbet, Major-General A. D.

(quoted), 89

250 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

Corwen, 154
Craigover Pool, 80
Greedy, the, 195, 197
Criuan, 219
Cumberland, 186

Dalgleish, Sir W. O.
(quoted), 85, 147, 185,

192, 195, 197, 214
Dalton, Major-General J. C.

(quoted), 66, 74, 114,

143, IGl, 189, 215
Dartmoor, 123, 132, 229
Davies-Cooke, Colonel Bryan

(quoted), 27, 28, 50, 122,

170, 188, 220, 232
Dawkins, the late Sir Clinton

(quoted), 85, 186, 213
Dawkins, Professor W. Boyd

(quoted), 52
Deane, Colonel (quoted), 23,

48, 115, 134, 163, 166,

212, 221
Dee, the Aberdeenshire, 9,

46, 85, 96, 114, 180, 195,

234
Dee (Merionethshire), 153,

185
Derbyshire, 40, 161
Desborough, Lord (quoted),

41, 169, 170 n.
Deverou, the, 188
Devonshire, 13, 35, 46, 110,

193, 197, 229
Devorgana, Lake, 116
Discoloration of water, 108,

121
Discomfort of bad weather,

103, 165, 173, 206, 242
Dodd, Mr. G. A. (quoted),

45, 78, 95, 111, 156,

184, 223, 233
Don, the, 138, 151, 204
Donegal, Co., 86, 115, 147,

186, 192, 197, 235

Downstream wind, 176, 181,

195
Drought, 91, 98
Dry-fly, 107, 110, 134, 169,

176, 178, 182, 229
Dulverton, 104
Dunn, the late Matthias, 29
Dunne, Captain J. J.

(quoted), 84, 192

Eamont, the, 136
Earthquakes, influence of,

17, 50
Elastern counties, 96, 172,

180, 182, 193, 195
East wind, 11, 42, 43, 53,

172-189, 190, 196, 197,

204
E^st-north-east wind, 186
East-south-east wind, 197
Eclipse, possible eiFect of

solar, 34, 35
Eddvstone, fishing near the,

47, 239
Eden, the, 5, 58, 200, 202
Edgwortli - Johnstone, Cap-
tain (quoted), 86, 115,

147, 186, 192, 195, 197,

235
Edinburgh, 87, 137, 147,

192, 196
Edwards, Mr. C. E. Munro

(quoted), 25, 76, 88, 93,

115, 126, 135, 146, 184,

199, 215
Edwards - Moss, Sir John

(quoted), 50, 77, 99, 113,

124, 142, 209, 233
Eel, 31, 45, 46, 215
Erne, the Irish, 15, 45, 68,

194, 211
Esk, the, 137
Esmoude, Sir T. G. (quoted),

82, 115, 172, 236
Etive, Loch, 60

INDEX

251

Exe, the, 13, 104, 151, 192,

216 n.
Exmoor, 132
Eyelids absent in fish, 70
Eyton, Major J. 'VV^ynn

(quoted), 27, 61, 98, 99,

186, 231

Failure, weather as an excuse

for, 3
Fairford, 138, 188
February Red, 99
Ferguson - Davie, Sir J. D.

(quoted), 195, 197
Fergusson, the Rt. Hon. Sir

James (quoted), 82, 113,

124, 214, 235
Fermanagh, Co., 153
Fetherstonhaugh, Mr. God-
frey (quoted), 185
Fewn, Loch, 10]
Field, the, 106
Filey Brigg, 170 n.
Float-fishing, 41, 46, 167,

240
Floods, 37, 38, 108, 124-132
Florida, 41
Fly, colour of the, 21
Foakes-Jackson, the Rev. F.

(quoted), 59
Fog, 46, 107, 228-242
Forfarshire, 78
Fowey, the, 186, 193, 198,236
Fowler, Mr. yV. W. (quoted),

86, 119, 185
Francis Francis, story of the

late, 56, 57
Frost, 39, 141-150, 204, 235
Funchal, 72

Gallichan, Mr. W. M.
(quoted), 40, 45, 85, 96,
98, 120, 145, 154, 161,
224, 230, 232, 235, 240

Gathorne - Hardy, the Hon.

A. E. (quoted), 33, 48,
77, 234
Gawthorne, Mr. E. W.

(quoted), 162
Gibraltar, 174
Girlsta, Loch of, 84
Gladhouse Reservoir, 137
Gloucestershire, 153
Godley, Major H. C.

(quoted), 185, 191, 218
Godwin- Austen, Lieut. -Col.

H. H. (quoted), 98
Gomm, Mr. T. W. (quoted),

155
Goola Lake, 185
Gorey, 82
Graeme, Mr. A. M. S.

(quoted), 84, 92, 120,

189, 197, 206
Granby, the Marquess of

(quoted), 119, 143, 190,

197, 218, 232
Grayling, 28, 39, 54, 74, 78,

85, 104, 105, 106, 122,

145, 150, 161, 168, 185,

189, 226, 239, 240
Gudgeon, 55, 169
Gut, conspicuousness of, 10,

21, 36, 54, 87, 113

Haddingtonshire, 154, 180,

236
Hail, 11, .37, 100, 107, 132-

139, 219
Hall, Mr. Hubert (quoted),

30, 31, 44, 97, 181, 193,

207
Hampshire, 14
Hardanger Fjord, 225
Hardy, Mr. J. J. (quoted),

151, 152
Hare's Ear, 99
Harvie-Brown, Mr. J. A.

(quoted), 24, 25, 195

252 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

Hatch of fly, wind and the,

177
Hatchery, Notes from a, 27
Hawkesbury, the, 193
Heat, 90
Hebrides, the, 44, 86, 167,

192
*' Helm " wind, a, 199-200
Helmsdale, the, 12
Herring, 29
Hoar-frost, 144
Hodgson, Mr. W. Earl

(quoted), 16, 66, 67,

112, 144, 151, 171, 182,

216 (and n.), 230
HoUins, Miss Rotha (quoted),

199-202
Hot weather, 97
Hunting, frost' and, 3
Hutchinson, Mr. Horace

(quoted), 6, 111

Inchnadamph, 214

India, Notes from, 22, 23,

91, 98, 134, 213
Inverness-shire, 116
Ireland, Notes from, 9, 15,

43, 89, 96, 158
Italian fishermen, 71
Itchen, the, 46, 168, 171,

178, 216, 217, 234, 240

Jock Scott, 138

Kaiser Wilhelm Canal, the,

208
Kennedy, Admiral Sir W.

R. (quoted), 170, 232
Kennet, the, 134
Kent, the, 77, 89
Kerry, Co., 116
Kingsley, Charles (quoted),

174
Kirkaig, the, 196
Kuram, the, 163

Lake district, the, 200
Lake fishing, 46, 48, 67, 85,

93, 115, 116, 117, 159,

166, 167, 171, 183
Lapland, Notes from, 114,

152, 186, 192, 195, 197,

218, 232
Lazonby, 200
Leinster, Province of, 127,

144
Lethbridge, Sir Roper

(quoted), 132
Level of the water, 108,

124-132, 162
Leven, Loch, 42, 86, 116,

118, 172, 180, 183, 195,

196
Lewes, the, 86
Liffey, the, 159
Light, 65-90, 109
Lightning, 205-227
Liver, the, 60
Loch Leven trout, 87, 112,

147
Lomond, Loch, 56, 94

M'Inroy, Colonel Charles
(quoted), 43, 122, 123,
156, 191

Mackerel, 41, 71, 72

Madeira, 71

Mahseer, 22, 23, 37, 91, 98,
133, 162, 163

Malcolm, Colonel (quoted),

45, 49, 219
Malmesbury, 220
Man, Isle of, 52

March Brown, 12, 83, 99,

135, 136, 153, 201
Marston, Mr. R. B. (quoted),

46, 145, 240
Mathews, the Rev. W. A.

(quoted), 52
Matthews, Mr. A. R.
(quoted), 148, 149, 241

INDEX

253

Mawddach, the, 126, 127
Maxwell, the Rt. Hon. Sir

Herbert (quoted), 9, 12,

36, 70, 80, 142
Mayfly, 79, 97, 180, 220
Mayo,' Co., 115, 185
Med iter rauean, torch-fishing

in the, 71
Melbourne, 174
Meoble P'orest, the, 116
Merionethshire, 93, 154, 184
Mertoun, 80
Mevagissey, 29
Michelmore, Mr. H. (quoted),

13, 38, 110-111
Minchin, Mr. C. O. (quoted),

35, 158, 186
Minneapolis, 83
Minnow-fishing, 76, 184
Mist, 46, 228-242
iMold, 27
Montagu of Beaulieu, Lord

(quoted), 11, 131, 138
Montagu, Sir S. (quoted),

171, 215, 234
Moore, Colonel St. Leger

(quoted), 6, 45, 127,

144, 157, 159, 188, 210,

225
Morgan, Mr. J. Lloyd

(quoted), 203
Morton, Major-General Sir

G. de Courcy (quoted),

23, 33, 133, 134, 162
Moss- water, 122
Murray, Dr. G. (quoted),

154
Murray, Dr. W. (quoted), 5,

154

Namsen, the, 90

Naver, the, 50

Ness, the, 8

New South Wales, 193

Noble, Mr. Robert (quoted).

45, 118, 137, 154, 180,

221, 236
Noe, the, 60
Norfolk, Notes from, 30, 31,

44, 97, 207, 240
" Normal weather " theory.

Colonel Bairnsfather's,

22, 23, 98, 182
North, the Rt. Hon. Sir Ford

(quoted), 45, 46, 211,
237
North-east wind, 43, 44,

136, 153, 174, 180, 185,

188, 189, 190, 191, 198,

217
North Esk, the, 123, 156,

191
North Tyue, the, 45, 77,

211
Northumberland, 45, 77, 120,

154, 219
North wind, 43, 53, 183,

189-193
North-west wind, 190, 192,

204
Norway, Notes from, 9, 46,

66, 90, 96, 97, 114, 152,

161, 174, 184, 186, 192,

195, 197, 218, 224, 226,

232

O'Callaghan, Major-General
Desmond (quoted), 45,
78, 120, 122, 191, 219

O'Grady, the Hon. F. Stan-
dish (quoted), 6

Olive Duns, 26

Orchy, the, 25, 130

Orkney, 84, 92, 120, 188,
197, 206

Otter, the, 151, 184, 192,
216 n.

Oxidation of the water, 10,
37

254 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

Peal, 88 n.

Peat stain, 121, 122, 126

Penniues, the, 200

Peuton Hook, 156

Perch, 41, 55, 74, 85, 147,

148, 168, 239
Perthshire, 78, 94
Pike, 64, 55, 97, 148, 149,

162, 167, 174, 239
Pilchard, 29

Piscatorial Society, the, 241
Pollack, 41, 186
Portuguese fishermen, 71
Pottinger, Sir Henry (quoted),

76, 124, 125, 139, 174,

226

Rain, 11, 37, 107-132
Rainhow-trout, 83, 185, 191
Rajawrie Tawi, 98
Rashleigh, Sir Colman B.

(quoted), 186, 193, 198,

236
Rising short, 33
Rising water, 124-131
Ristagouche, 8, 213
Roach, 20, 39, 41, 46, 55,

100, 147, 148, 149, 161,

162, 168, 169, 226, 240,

241
Robson, Mr. Mayo, 60
Rockies, fishing in the, 15
Rolt, Mr, H. A. (quoted),

28, 39, 76, 100, 146,

148, 161, 168, 169, 189,

226, 239, 240, 241
Ross-shire, 60, 81, 114
Russell, Major-General J. C.

(quoted), 234
Russell, Mr, W. (quoted),

56, 86, 94,138, 178 n.,

181 «., 218

Sadler, Mr. VV. Dendy
(quoted), 67

Salisbury, 162

Salmon, 9, 28, 36, 39, 42, 45,
50, 53, 67, 58, 68, 69,
73, 77, 80, 81, 85, 86,
88, 95, 96, 99, 113, 114,
124-129, 131, 135, 141,
142, 143, 144, 145, 146,
147, 150, 156-158, 159,
167, 174, 183, 184, 185,
187, 188, 191, 192, 194,
195, 197, 209, 220, 221,
233, 234, 236-238

Sand River, the, 78, 184

Schnapper fishing, 193

Scotland, Notes from, 8, 9,
12, 13, 14, 33, 40, 42,
67,85,160, 178 n., 186,
213, 233

Sea-bream, 71

Sea-fishing, 43, 47, 51-53,
55, 71, 158, 173, 189,
193, 196, 197, 238

Sea-trout, 9, 11, 32, 39, 54,
60, 77, 86, 88 n., 89,
131, 138, 167, 171, 188,
209, 215, 233, 234

Senior, Mr. \V. (quoted),
104-106, 146

Seton-Karr, Sir H. (quoted),
8, 9, 14, 32, 48, 68, 83,
96, 129, 194

Sewin (see also Sea-trout),
88, 126, 146, 184, 216

Seymour, Admiral Sir Michael
Culme (quoted), 5

''Shade-fishing," 75

Sheild, Mr, A. Marmaduke
(quoted), 82, 113, 116-
118, 125, 128, 135, 183,
231

Sheriugham, Mr. H, T.
(quoted), 17, 41, 60, 74,
85, 90, 100, 119, 133,
146, 148, 167, 186, 197,
239, 241

INDEX

255

Shetland, 84, 85, 138, 216 n.
Shooting, rain and, 3
Shrimp, fishing with, 74,

143
Sight in fishes, 20, 36, 66
" Silver Doctor," 50
Skaig, 74

Skating, importance of tem-
perature in, 4
Sky reflections, 67
Slaney, the, 45, 157, 187,

210
Sleet {see Hail)
Smart, Mr. J. E. (quoted),

151, 184, 216 n.
Snow, 11, 39, 68, 100, 107,

150-158
"Snow-broth," 39, 68, 158-

163, 204
South wind, 44, 175, 189,

196-199
South-east wind, 50, 197
" Southerly Buster," 196
South-south-west wind, 198
South-west wind, 53, 147,

167, 178, 179, 195, 197-

199
Spanish fishermen, 71
Spates, 37, 126
Spean, the, 159
Spey, the, 46, 211, 212,

237
Spring fishing, 25
Stead, Colonel (quoted), 163
Stewart, W^ C, 67
Stewart tackle, 132
Stour (Suffolk), 149
Stroud, 153
Suffolk, 149
Suffolk and Berkshire, the

Earl of (quoted), 138,

204, 219
Sunset, effects of, 32, 88-90
Sunshine, (*ee uho Light,
Hot weather), 11, 31,

58, 74, 75, 77, 78, 142,

184, 186, 235
Sutherland, 101

Swansea, the Bishop Suffra-
gan of (quoted), 57

Sweden, Notes from, 170,
232

Sydney, 196

Symptoms, 16

Symptoms of weather, Mr.
Hodgson on, 66, 216,
230

Talyllyn, Lake, 26, 115
Tarpon, 41

Tawe, the, 86, 119, 214
Tay, Loch, 98, 162, 170
Tay, the, 13, 14, 85, 147,

185, 192, 195, 197
Teign, the, 13, 35, 123, 239
Temperature {see also Cold

weather. Hot weather),

19, 161, 177, 195
" Tempests " in Norfolk, 30,

208
Tench, 41, 85, 168, 186
Test, the, 229
Thames, the, 14, 49, 95, 147,

169
Thames trout, 9, 11, 39, 45,

131, 155, 156, 184, 225
The Angler s Vade - Mecum,

172
The Wonderful Trout, 24
Thunder, 11, 35, 44, 205-227
Thunder and lightning, 113
Thurso, the, 9, 95, 96, 142
Till, the, 120
Tingwall, 84
Torbay, 173

Torches in sea-fishing, 71
Torridon, the, 45, 46, 68, 81,

114, 162, 188, 209, 234
Towy, the, 57, 167, 203
Trout {see ako Sea - trout.

256 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER

Thames trout), 11, 12,
13, 14, 1.5, 16, 19, 23,

26, 27, 28, 30, 32, 36,
39, 42, 44, 45, 48, 54,
57, 61, 74, 75, 78, 82,
83, 84, 86, 87, 88, 89,
92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97,
98, 99, 100, 106, 110,
111, 112, 113, 114-121,
129, 130, 132, 133, 135,
136-139, 142, 145, 146,
147, 150, 151, 152, 153,
154, 156, 158, 159,160,
165, 167, 170, 172, 174,
178, 182, 183, 184, 185,
186, 190, 191, 192, 195,
197, 198, 200-202, 207,
215-226, 230, 231, 232,
233, 235, 236, 240, 241

Trout Fishing, 16
Tulla, Loch, 130
Tulioch, Major -General Sir

A. (quoted), 8
TuUoch, Mr. J. S, (quoted),

85, 138, 216 n.
Tully, Lake, 185
Tummel, Loch, 116
Tweed, the, 9, 14, 80, 96, 128,

129, 130, 136, 172, 180
Tyne, the (Haddingtonshire),

154, 180, 236

Uist, North, 14

Upstream wind, 170, 176,

181, 197, 198, 199
Usk, the, 8

Wales, Notes from, 14, 26,

27, 40, 57, 126, 127,
146, 161, 215, 230

Walton, Izaak, 175, 196

^Vansheck, the, 45, 219
Warwickshire, 97
Waterford, Co., 99
" Water-smoke," 240
Waterville, 116
Waterways, thunderstorms

follow, 208
Weather-lore in animals, 26,

30, 31, 207
Weir-fishing, 184
West, Colonel W. Cornwallis

(quoted), 14, 153
West coast, 181, 195
^V'estmorland, 77, 89
^Vest wind, 44, 53, 147,

170 n., 175, 189, 190,

193-196, 199
Wet-fiy, 169, 176, 229, 240
Wey, the, 95, 147
Wey bridge, 147 «.
Wheeley, Mr. C, H. (quoted),

11, 19, 4.5, 49, 95, 100,

131, 147, 148, 156, 162,

184, 186, 215, 225, 234
Whiting, 41, 47
"Wilkinson," 213
Wind (see also East, North,

South, A\'est), 40, 164-

204
AV'olverton, Lord (quoted),

133, 144, 214, 234
Worm-fishing, 74, 75, 78,

126, 161, 190, 225, 230
Writers, limitations of the

older, 173, 175, 196
Wylye, the, 168
Wyoming, fishing in

Northern, 15

Yellow stain in the water, 122
Yorkshire, 62

Printed by R. & R. Clark, Limited, Edinburgh.

"^

A 000 679 112 3