Slight changes will often affect the fish. On one day in June, in the writer’s experience, after having no luck till eleven o’clock, the trout suddenly commenced rising, and kept on without cessation, scarcely giving time to cast, till two, when they as suddenly stopped. There was no observable change in the weather, except the advent of a slight haze, the wind remaining precisely the same. I was much disappointed, not having half fished the ground and being prevented, by the numbers that were taken, from casting over some of the largest fish that broke. As it was, I caught seventy trout in what is ordinarily considered the worst hours of the day. But in this particular, also, the same rules apply as to the warmth of the weather. In early spring it is useless to be up with the lark, even supposing such a bird exists; no fish will break the water till the sun has warmed the air; but in summer, the dawn should blush to find the sportsman napping. In fact, trout will not rise well unless the air is warmer than the water. They do not like to risk taking cold by exposing themselves to a sudden draught.
There is a very absurd impression, that trout will not take the fly early in the season; this is entirely unfounded. As soon as the ice disappears they will be found gambolling in the salt water streams, and leaping readily at the fly. At such times, on lucky days, immense numbers are taken. In March they have run up the sluiceways and are in the lower ponds, lying sullenly in the deepest water; then is the cow-dung, politely called the dark cinnamon, the most attractive fly. In April, May and June they are scattered, and entrapped by the hackles, professor, ibis, and all the medium sized flies. In July and August they have sought the headwaters of navigation, the cool spring brooks, and hide around the weeds and water-cresses, whence the midges alone can tempt them.
Any flies will catch fish, cast in any manner, if the fish are plenty and in humor to be caught. A few feathers torn from the nearest and least suspicious chicken, and tied on an ordinary hook with a piece of thread, will constitute a fly in the imagination of a trout, provided he follows, as he sometimes appears to do, the advice of the young folks, shuts his eyes and opens his mouth. I cannot recommend such tackle, being convinced the most skillfully made is the best; but I do advise simplicity of color. One of the best of all flies is the female cow-dung, made of a dark cinnamon color, and after the pattern used in England; there is a greenish abomination unjustly foisted upon American invention that is worthless. The hackles are in my opinion altogether inferior, except the black-winged hackle, which, of a bright warm day, is irresistible. The ibis and professor, dressed _à l’Américaine_, with yellow floss body and red tail, are both excellent flies. The coachman is the best evening fly, and will attract trout long after the angler can see to strike them, and when the sound of their plunge alone entices him to continue his efforts. The May and stone flies are good, and of late years a fly of mixed red and black, with wings, called by some, from his colors, the devil-fly, has come into vogue. The palmers are only to be despised and avoided. In summer, of the midges the yellow sally, the alder fly, the little cinnamon, the black gnat, the black and red ants, and in fact all others, are attractive. The water is then covered with myriads of many-colored flies, and there is hardly any artificial but will find its representative among the real life.