8o The Atlantic Salmon 



were the favorites of the fish. However, as it 

 now is and probably always will be, each angler 

 has a theory or many theories of his own. If 

 they are the result of his experience, they may be 

 generally right, for the waters in which he is 

 accustomed to fish, but quite inappropriate for 

 water somewhere else. Again, some of these 

 theories may be based on extraordinary occur- 

 rences, as, on a certain occasion, when nobody 

 else was having any luck, the trial of a fly very 

 much larger or smaller, brighter, or darker than 

 those in use has been rewarded by the capture 

 of several fish, which the angler is likely to assume 

 would only have risen to the particular strange 

 fly they took. He can't say with anything like 

 certainty that the fish would not have taken 

 something else just as well, but very naturally 

 ascribes his success to some attractions in the 

 particular fly he has used. Almost any angler 

 has facts enough at his own command to dis- 

 prove nearly all statements that may be made 

 by others as to the virtues of special flies. 



While I admit that I suffer with others from 

 the prevailing delusions on this subject, and that 

 in some respects I feel quite strongly in favor 

 of my own opinion, I will endeavor to explain 



