THE PRY FLY. 133 



banished for ever. This revival is due largely 

 to the writings of Mr. G. E. M. Skues, whose 

 Minor Tactics of the Chalk Stream was 

 published in 1910. In this book he proves 

 conclusively that the sunk fly has its use on the 

 shyest chalk stream, that it will kill when the 

 dry fly will not, and that it is a form of fishing 

 as difficult and as entrancing as the other. It 

 is an original book, and it is no disparagement 

 to its originality to say that it is founded on 

 the wisdom of our ancestors. Mr. Skues is 

 indebted to Stewart both for his method of fish- 

 ing and of tying flies, a debt which he amply 

 acknowledges. His great merit is that he has 

 revived and brought up to date for use on 

 chalk streams what was a lost art. He has 

 rediscovered and restated it in terms suited to 

 to-day. His book gives fishing a new starting 

 point, and opens a new chapter in its history. 

 Since Minor Tactics appeared, there has been 

 another noticeable movement, the use of imita- 

 tion nymphs. The under water life of flies is 

 much better known than it used to be, thanks 

 largely to Halford, and the nymphs of the olive 

 dun, the blue winged olive, the iron blue and the 

 pale watery dun have been identified and are 

 being copied. And these copies are not taking 

 the form traditional to sunk flies, with head 

 and tail, wing and hackle, but are being built 

 on new lines, copying more closely the original. 

 These are now being used extensively and with 

 success on the shyest chalk streams. Whether 



