SALMON FLIES 3 



The form here employed is reasonably like the 

 natural insect, and up to the size of grilse flies 

 may pass as such. When, however, salmon flies 

 as large as 3/0 to 7/0 are considered, it is at 

 once seen how absurd is the naming, there being 

 nothing in nature on salmon rivers which it may 

 be claimed they represent ; therefore they clearly 

 are not "flies," and it would seem more appro- 

 priate to call them "lures." If one of these 

 large "lures," with its gay colourings and Jungle 

 Cock cheeks, be drawn through the water, it 

 assumes more than anything the shape of a 

 small fish, and undoubtedly that is what salmon 

 take it for. This may seem rank heresy to the 

 "purist" fly fisher who while casting, fondly 

 imagines he is " fly " fishing. It is not the inten- 

 tion of the writer, however, to suggest that he 

 is fishing with a minnow. Far from it. All that 

 the argument resolves itself into is, that for ages 

 sportsmen have spoken of "lures" as "flies." 

 But the mischief is greater than appears at first 

 sight, and the error has led us into difficulties 

 such as exist on rivers like the Tweed, where 

 the law is, that " when the nets are off," nothing 

 shall be used except "artificial flies." Had the 

 wording been " artificial lures," then it would 

 have been clear and open, and one could have 

 used such variations of the "lure" as invention 

 might suggest. But who can define the " salmon 



