374 TROUT AND ANGLtNG. 



salmon with those of one's own manufacture is infi- 

 nitely greater than that afforded by doing so with 

 the handy-work of any other artist. The dress- 

 ing an Irish fly is, it must be admitted, a tedious, 

 and to do it neatly, rather a difficult operation, and 

 requires not only practice in the mere mechanical 

 part of the process, but likewise considerable judg- 

 ment in the selection and adaptation of the com- 

 ponent parts. Any man who has been taught to 

 tie flies, may imitate a pattern correctly enough ; 

 but it is not so easy a matter, without a model, to 

 select and mix a good wing, and choose the colors 

 of the body, legs, head, &c., so as to make a ju- 

 dicious whole. The merely being able to tie a 

 neat and pretty looking fly, is not sufficient ; some- 

 thing more is wanting, and this something, most men 

 whether regular tackle makers, or amateurs, want, 

 and nothing but experience and careful and minute 

 observation will supply the deficiency." 



Having made this long detour from Childs' Riv- 

 er, we now return to it, for the purpose merely of 

 stating the numbers and size of the fish taken at 

 one particular time. It was on the eighteenth of 

 May 1829, that two persons one of whom was 

 an English gentleman, a " brother of the angler," 

 to whom we are principally indebted for the small 

 stock of practical skill we possess took seventy 

 fine sea-trout, weighing thirtyeight pounds. A 



