106 HINTS ON ANGLING. 



others by falling in with better streams. Mutual congra- 

 tulations and compliments are here the order of the day, 

 and the superior excellence of particular flies eagerly com- 

 mented on. But, on the other hand, when the fish have 

 no inclination for the fly, we find the reverse of all this. 

 Every one shakes his head in despair, and swears he has 

 tempted them in vain with every conceivable object in 

 his fly-book. Now all this, which is an every day occur- 

 rence, is inexplicable, except upon our theory, that when 

 the fish are inclined to feed they are not nice to a shade 

 of colour ; and when they are not, the best ingenuity of 

 man may be displayed to no purpose. 



We fished for five or six successive seasons some of the 

 finest and most prolific rivers in England and Scotland, 

 in company with one of the very best fly-fishers in Great 

 Britain, the author of most of the papers in " Black wood's 

 Magazine" on this art; and we invariably used different 

 coloured flies. It was quite astonishing to see how nearly, 

 on finishing in the evening, we were to each other in 

 point both of number and quality of fish. If one had a 

 bad day so had the other; and if good both participated 

 in the success. 



In the north of England, and in Scotland, there are 

 angling matches very frequently, between two first-rate 

 fly-fishers, to decide who shall kill the greater number of 

 fish on a given day, both traversing the same tract of 

 water, taking the streams alternately, just as they come 

 to hand, and beginning and finishing at certain points. 

 These exploits generally attract a good deal of attention 

 for a considerable distance round the country. We have 

 ourselves witnessed four of such contests; and on these 

 occasions the difference between the rivals never exceeded 

 eight or ten fish, out of a day's sport yielding from eight 



