48 TROUT-FISHING FOR THE BEGINNER 



dour and hard to rise, the angler tries change 

 after change of fly until with luck the fish 

 begin to bestir themselves. The idea behind 

 the changing is that the trout are waiting for 

 a certain pattern of fly, and until this is 

 offered them, they refuse to take notice. I 

 am afraid, however, that a fallacy lurks in 

 this proceeding, of which proof is easily 

 obtained. If, when the trout begin to rise 

 at the last change of fly, the latter be removed 

 and replaced by the original pattern first 

 employed, it will be found that nine times 

 out of ten the fish show equal eagerness to 

 take it. At any rate I have put this theory 

 into practice times without number on various 

 streams, and so far it has seldom failed. 

 Apparently sport becomes brisk owing to a 

 change in the humour of the trout rather 

 than to the change of fly. 



Having left the imitationist at work, let 

 us stroll farther upstream, and see how our 

 friend who favours "impressionistic" flies 

 is faring. He is hard at work, and appears 

 to be having quite as good sport as his brother 

 angler lower down. If we look into his fly- 

 book, we shall probably find there some half- 

 dozen different patterns at the most, and it 

 will not surprise us if there are only three or 

 four patterns of the type he favours. Some 



