The Trout 



many hundreds should get a rise from a 

 fish, If In a biting mood, and, indeed, this 

 Is In a measure true. But one swallow does 

 not make a summer. There are times and 

 places when any old thing, even a bit of 

 colored rag, will coax a rise. I have had 

 good success with a bit of the skin of a 

 chicken neck with a feather or two attached. 

 Then there are times when nothing but 

 natural bait proves alluring. 



We may assume as almost a self-evident w^hy a Trout 

 proposition that a fish takes an artificial fly ^ ^^ ^ ^ 

 under the delusion that It Is a natural one, 

 or something good to eat — otherwise it 

 would not take It at all. If this assumption 

 is correct, then It would follow that the best 

 Imitations of natural flies or Insects should 

 be the most successful. This Is, in the 

 main, a reasonable conclusion, though on 

 the other hand certain flies that are uni- 

 versally considered and used as good ones, 

 do not, to our eyes at least, bear any resem- 

 blance to any known Insect — for Instance 

 the coachman, professor and other so-called 

 fancy flies. 



75 



