flies: natural and artificial. 87 



part of the day, may by alteration of sky and weather 

 be later on converted into a real good killer. 



A fish may be in a mood to take in the afternoon, 

 whereas nothing would tempt him earlier; but at the 

 same time it has frequently been our lot to hook a fish 

 at some time of the day with a certain fly which pre- 

 viously had no charm for him, so it is possible that the 

 change of light may have assisted in the result ; at all 

 events, if we had happened to have put on another fly we 

 should in all probability have given the change credit for 

 the catch, to the disadvantage of the original pattern. 



The theory upon which our system of dressing hooks 

 is based is simple in the extreme, viz. : — To make a 

 harmonious blend of colours to attract the attention of 

 fish, and when the colour of the water itself or its 

 surroundings above and below the surface tend to 

 obscure the fly, then colours must be introduced and 

 the size of the hook increased to counteract this efi"ect ; 

 and, as a rule, we strive to introduce some one bright 

 and attractive feature in each fly, forming as it were the 

 high light of the picture. This result may be achieved 

 either by colour or contrast in accordance with the 

 character of the fly. The willow boxes lined with cork, 

 as used by entomologists, will be found excellent re- 

 ceptacles for flies, which can be stuck into the cork 

 without waste of space and kept unruffled and un- 

 flattened. 



We will next proceed with the method of dressing a 

 hook, with a few practical hints which may be of use. 



