142 FLY FISHING FOE TROUT. 



chiefly from Scotland. Stewart pinned his 

 faith to his three famous hackles, his black, 

 red, and dun spider. No doubt each of those 

 could with a little laxity, be identified with a 

 specific insect ; but he did not set out to imitate 

 such, and chose his flies with an eye rather to 

 weather and water. This, in fact, is the feature 

 which distinguishes this school : more attention 

 is paid to light, to the clearness of the water, 

 and to the sky, than to the insect. Stewart has 

 many followers to this day. 



The next school use what are called general 

 flies, that is, flies which imitate a genus or a 

 group, but not an individual. They differ from 

 the last in that they regard imitation as more 

 important than light or water : but they 

 consider that precise copying is impossible, and, 

 if it were possible, unnecessary. 



The third and last is content with nothing 

 short of an actual copy of the individual species 

 which trout are taking. Of these was Halford, 

 who when he first wrote included fancy and 

 general flies in his list, but at the end of his 

 long life says that his full experience convinced 

 him that specific imitation is best in all weathers 

 and all waters. Of course these three schools 

 merge into each other. A fly can be more or 

 less general, or it can be on the borderland of 

 fancy and general, or of general and individual. 

 Take the Partridge and Orange as an example. 

 It is fished in the north all the year round, and 

 may be called a fancy fly. But it is possibly 



