92 Fly-Mshing for Mahseer. I'hait. vii. 



of poor Prometheus, who got making experiments with electricity. 

 They called it stealing fire from heaven, and ran him in. 

 But they let Franklin off for the very same crime. Perhaps I, too, 

 may escape. I will trust to the enlightened age. I wish very 

 much though that I could find some theory on which to base 

 fly-fishing for Mahseer. I only look to salmon fishing to help 

 me in this matter, but I look in vain. As far as I can see the 

 principle at the bottom of all fishing is, the presentation to the 

 fish of a hook, so concealed under something which is its natiual 

 food, or which is so like its natural food, that it is taken unsus- 

 pectingly in place of food. This principle is thoroughly acted 

 up to in the tieing of artificial flies for trout, they being the closest 

 possible imitation of the actual flies on the water, and the fisher- 

 man changes his fly every hour of the day that the fly on the 

 water changes. But what on earth a salmon fly is meant to 

 represent no one knows, nor, indeed, why it is called a fly at all, 

 except from the trout fly having given the idea that salmon also 

 might he fished for in the same manner, only with a larger fly. 

 It is only surmised that it is taken by the salmon for a small fish 

 or shrimp, or some other thing unknown. My belief is that it 

 is simply taken for the thing unknown, and experimented on by 

 the salmon in the manner above suggested. In brief the 

 Hy is dressed more to suit the fisherman than the fish. The 

 fisherman must have a fly he believes in ; he cannot possibly fish 

 well if he has no faith in 'his lure. A fly of your own fancy 

 always kills best. If the fish are in a taking humour, that is, are 

 eagerly on the look out for food, they will take any fly you 

 throw in sight of them. If they are not they will only take the 

 fisherman's fancy fly. Therefore, if you have any fancy fly use it 

 for Mahseer; if you have not, then take soineliody else's fancy, 

 mine if you will. For with only fancy and no rationale to guide 

 us, and the necessity for having a fancy of some sort, all we 

 can do is to look about till we find a man who has had the gen id 

 fortune to kill pretty often with any particular fly, so that he 

 has grown to have a confidence in it, and to use the same till 

 we find a better. Now I have a very thorough belief in black as 

 the colour. I had arrived at such a belief, unbeliever though I 

 am, in 1S73. 1 have been only confirmed in it by subsequent 

 experience. Aye, wedded to it. And 1 find 1 am by no means 



