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CHAPTER V 



FLY FISHING IN THE SEA 



FLY fishing in the sea is a lottery. There is more of it than 

 most people suppose, but there is no kind of sea fishing more 

 uncertain. Occasionally, takes are reported which would fill 

 the salmon or sea-trout fisher with wonderment ; but the blank 

 days are enough to make angels weep. 



We need not concern ourselves to consider in what light a 

 sea fish regards an artificial fly, or the thing that we call a fly. 

 From the ordinary trout fisher's point of view there is no fly 

 fishing in the sea, for there are, generally speaking, no natural 

 flies to be imitated, except, perhaps, on some almost landlocked 

 waters. The sea fly is the same sort of thing as the salmon fly ; 

 that is to say, a representation of some marine insect or small 

 fish, usually the latter. The most plentiful fish of our seas is, I 

 imagine, the herring ; and it is when the surface-swimming fish 

 are feeding on the herring or sprat fry whitebait, sile, or britt, 

 as they are variously termed that the fly fisher has his chance. 



The fly with which I have done most execution is an 

 imitation of the young herring, which, according to Dr. Meyer's 

 observations, measures about an inch and a half when about 

 five months old. I will venture to call it the ' Whitebait ' fly. 

 Its most usual size and form are shown in the accompanying 

 illustration. The over wing is a strip of white feather from a 

 swan's quill, the under wing being some strands of peacock 

 harl. The hackle is of the same material, and the body, which 



