44 FLY FISHING. 



seen ; nor do the Tamar trout seem to show any marked partiality 

 for them, whilst in the Inney the fish will rise boldly at this fly, 

 when the waters are in so low a state, and so ill adapted for fish- 

 ing, that it would be useless to attempt to raise a single fish with 

 any other bait. Some anglers, indeed, whose practice has been 

 mostly confined to those rocky rivulets that abound with the smaller 

 kind of trout, and in which the competition for food is so great 

 amongst so dense a population, that from very necessity they be- 

 come omniverous, seem to consider that one kind of fly will do as 

 well as another all through the year, without the slightest reference 

 to the season ; and, as far as such localities are concerned, they 

 are not very wide of the mark ; but in waters that are not over- 

 stocked with trout, and where insects and food of all kinds are 

 abundant, the success of the day will almost entirely depend on 

 the selection of the flies, though I am still willing to admit it is 

 not always the fly that you see on the water that will do the busi- 

 ness best. Much will depend on the colour and state of the water, 

 whilst many artificial flies, that resemble no living creatures what- 

 ever, are often found to do most wonderful execution, even in 

 those rivers where the trout are very particular in their diet ; but 

 any one who has fished much in a river where the fish are shy of 

 rising, as the Test in Hampshire for instance, will find that if he 

 does not adopt his flies to the season, he will stand little chance of 

 sport ; and even when the flies are in season the choice of them 

 must depend a great deal on the weather and height and colour of 

 the water ; for the caprice of trout in this respect is very remark- 

 able, they being often found to reject the flies one day, they rose 

 at greedily but the day before, and returning to them again the 

 day after ; and this change seems to be adopted almost by mutual 

 consent, being in short a kind of fashion amongst fishes, which 

 renders it vulgar to eat blue duns in one kind of weather, or March 

 browns in another, whilst cow dung flies are pronounced quite un- 

 genteel, except in windy weather, and grannums considered a 

 particularly elegant diet on a mild May morning. An angling 

 friend of mine, and a person of great practical experience, lays it 

 down as a rule that in a full water, particularly if at all discoloured, 

 the more glaring flies are the most attractive ; whilst the exact 

 reverse is the case under opposite circumstances. But for all this 

 I have ever found the fly the most successful that is most prevalent 

 at the season, some of which may usually be discovered amongst 



