THE FLY QUESTION 115 



for it seemed a sure killer, and its size of hook was 



a great advantage for evening work when you want 



to hold fish rather hard and get them out quickly. 



And now — at any rate, for the time being — I have 



lost faith in both blue-winged olive and orange 



quill ! Neither kills fish for me any more. But 



I have said all that I need say as to the uncertainties 



of the evening rise and the selection of patterns 



for it. 



For a good many years now I have depended to 



a large extent for dry-fly fishing, and to some extent 



for wet-fly work, on a simple series of hackle flics, 



blue, red, ginger, and black, three of them with 



quill bodies, and the fourth with silk body, all 



rather sparsely hackled, and somewhat varied in 



shade. The blue, for instance, may be dark, medium, 



or light, and the red may be dark or light, and may 



or may not have a couple of turns of gold tinsel 



as a tag. The black must have jet-black hackle. 



The value of this series, which practically consists 



of wingless blue, red and ginger quills, and black 



gnat, is most apparent in hot bright weather, and 



smaller sizes are usually more successful than larger. 



The blue fly on a 00 hook ^ is particularly good in 



^ With a view to getting more holding power in these small 

 flies I adopted the plan of short-shanked hooks. The result of 

 this is that with a 00 length of body you get a gape of hook. 

 Mr. Forrest, of Forrest & Sons, Thomas Street, Oxford Street, W., 

 kindly interested himself in the matter, and got some hooks 



