SALMON FISHING WITH THE FLY. 255 



vice versa. Without any disrespect to the flies, more or less 

 widely known, invented or advocated by other writers or fly- 

 tyers, I would here suggest a few of my own patterns for trial 

 by any ' novice ' who has not yet stocked his fly-case. They 

 have been repeatedly, and, so to speak, ' competitively ' tested 

 over and over again at different times and on different waters, 

 against the local and ' standard ' patterns, having during three 

 consecutive seasons killed some two hundred sea-trout (Salmo 

 trutta), and at least as many thousands of brown-trout and 

 their varieties (Gillaroo, &c.), in the lakes of Sutherland, 

 Conn.emara, Fermanagh, and Kerry. Nine-tenths of these were 

 taken lake-fishing from a boat ; and as the other person in the 

 boat, whether amateur or professional, has, at my request, in- 

 variably fished with the local or ' standard ' patterns, the fact that 

 under these conditions my flies have in the long run held their 

 own, and something over, justifies a reasonable confidence in 

 their being, at any rate, not absolute ' duffers.' There have, of 

 course, been times, and even places, when the local flies have 

 had the best of it. Such inequalities are inevitable under any 

 conceivable conditions, and obviously would occur even if 

 the same patterns were used by both rods in the same boat. 

 But what I can say is that, taking one day with another and 

 one lake with another, my flies (slightly modified since first 

 described in these pages) have, as a fact, killed more fish than 

 the ' locals ' or the so-called ' standard ' patterns fished against 

 them. The flies recommended I have found ample for all 

 purposes of lake-fishing, both for white and brown trout, and 

 they should be dressed as a general rule on hooks Nos. 6, 

 7, and 8 (' new ' scale). There are a few somewhat exceptional 

 lakes where sea-trout take at times a larger fly, and others 

 where even a smaller size than No. 6 has proved killing, 

 especially in calm bright weather ; but the three sizes men- 

 tioned will usually be found sufficient for all practical purposes, 

 and, if dressed on eyed hooks, about half-a-dozen of each 

 pattern and size say five or six dozen in all or even less, 

 ought to suffice for a month's outing ; of course when either 



