ROD AND RIVER 



the north or east wind prevails. On such occa- 

 sions they come sailing down the stream in merry 

 little groups, which are soon sadly thinned by 

 the trout, which hail their advent, and hasten 

 to the banquet while they may, for the rise does 

 not last long, and so, if the fisherman desires to 

 take advantage of it, he must make the best use 

 of his time. 



Ronalds states that the iron-blue lives about 

 two days before it changes its skin, and that it 

 is on the water from the end of April to the 

 middle of June. He also asserts that the jenny 

 spinner the spinner to which this fly changes- 

 lasts all through the summer. I fail to reconcile 

 the former statement with the latter, for if the 

 one is on the water, the other must be so. 



My own experiences are that the iron-blue, 

 and consequently the jenny spinner, is on the 

 water more or less throughout the season. 

 What is termed the July dun is so very similar, 

 that it is supposed to be a later edition of the 

 iron-blue. The same artificial will do duty for 

 both flies. 



Ronalds dresses it as follows : 



Body : Blue mole's fur. 

 Head : Reddish-brown floss silk. 

 Tail : From a yellow dun hackle. 

 Wings: From the under-side of a cormorant's wing, 

 or a feather from the breast of a moorhen (the 



