46 TROUT-FISHING FOR THE BEGINNER 



impression that it is a minnow in distress, 

 some luscious underwater larva or other 

 desirable tit-bit. Fish a cast of the same 

 sized flies upstream in clear water, and the 

 trout will have none of them, for handled in 

 such a manner they appear abnormally large 

 amongst the natural insects, and the way 

 they are shown to the fish does not give them 

 the appearance of minnows. 



Your really keen angler soon learns by ex- 

 perience and formulates his own pet theories 

 on artificial trout flies. In the case of the 

 beginner, however, there is a long list of 

 different patterns from which he can make 

 his initial choice, all of which are proved 

 killers, and with a selection of them in his 

 fly-book, he can hardly go far wrong during 

 his first season. 



3. The "Exact Imitationistic" fly and the 

 " Impressionistic " ; two different 

 theories of fishing. 



The majority of river insects are extremely 

 neat and light of form ; it, therefore, behoves 

 the angler to dress, or have his flies dressed 

 in like manner. Not only is a neat, lightly 

 dressed fly more like the natural insect, but 

 the hook, especially in the smaller sizes, gets 

 a better chance of taking hold. The majority 



