THE FLY QUESTION 105 



at all times, a very big cochybonddu, and baskets 

 of trout with which no one else might vie. Yet 

 another angler once told me that he always fished 

 with a single pattern everywhere, a plain black 

 hackle with silver ribbing down the body, and he 

 seemed quite contented with the results of this 

 procedure. 



Probably there are plenty of other anglers who 

 have reduced their perplexities to nil by a similar 

 resolute policy. I remember that my friend Caradoc 

 all one season on a chalk stream wdiich we fished 

 together seemed to use nothing but what he called 

 " the haystack " — it was a bunchy sort of hackle 

 hare's ear, if I am not mistaken, but I took a dislike 

 to its appearance and shape, and would have nothing 

 to do with it. When Tup's indispensable first 

 dawned on the dry-fly world a good many men 

 must have used it pretty consistently in the same 

 way. The river reports were for a long time full 

 of the doings of this excellent fly. And there are 

 other instances of the same kind of thing. One 

 very famous fishing club would probably be willing 

 to pass a unanimous vote of thanks to the fly which 

 has the inspiring name of " the extractor " ; though 

 I fancy that that particular pattern has since had 

 rivals in the general esteem, it is still good for a 

 brace most days. 



Reflecting on sucli examples of procedure as those 



