66 SOUTH COUNTRY TROUT STREAMS 



stream is more likely to prove successful than small 

 duns and spinners fished dry, and out of May-fly 

 season, indeed, I gather that wet fly fishing is the 

 most effective on most parts of the Colne. I can 

 find no record of the trout of the Colne, which are 

 usually large and few and far between, taking any 

 imitation of the natural fly well out of the drake 

 season. " The true season for the Colne," said Davy 

 — who, as we gather from the Last Days of a Phi- 

 losopher, often used to fish in the stream — '' is the 

 season of the May-fly." The Alexandra, a some- 

 what obnoxious, and by some held to be scarcely a 

 legitimate, lure, is, I believe, occasionally used by 

 Colne, as well as Thames, anglers. On delicate 

 waters, where the trout rise properly at small fly, 

 its use may well be prohibited by clubs and pro- 

 prietors of fishing. It seems to often scratch far 

 more fish than it actually hooks. I admit I have 

 used it myself on the Colne near Harefield at my 

 angling host's own suggestion, though not with 

 much pleasure or success. 



There is a marked dearth of fly on the Colne 

 at and about West Drayton, which Mr. Murray, 

 the proprietor of the water, attributes, rightly or 

 wrongly, to the sewage pollution and " the early 

 machine cutting of grass." Whether the sewage 

 kills the fly or not, it is certain that it kills fly 

 fishing ; and I have in my mind several cases 

 where it is impossible in hot weather to approach 

 certain parts of more than one trout stream, 

 owing to the disgusting odour. The attempt to 

 prove that sewage pollution is rather good than 

 otherwise for the trout cannot be put forward 

 seriously by any one with the least knowledge of 

 fish and fish life. The few big black trout which 



