340 FLY FISHING AND SPINNING 



and naturally attract the attention and excite this destru- 

 tive impulse of the salmon. 



COLOUR OF FLY 



It is recognized that certain peculiarities of colour attract 

 the attention of the salmon more in some rivers than 

 in others, although the natural life existing in the different 

 waters is identically the same. 



It has occurred to me that this partiality by the salmon 

 for certain colours in certain streams may be due to the 

 different effects produced on the subaqueous appearance 

 of water life, by the geological strata of the country affecting 

 the bed and the banks of the river, the natural differences 

 of the foliage and the vegetation through which it passes, 

 and its altitude above the sea. The effects of cloud and 

 sunshine, clear or thick water, sunlight or shade, reflection 

 or shadow, depths or shallows, spring or autumn, rapid or 

 slow current, will all be varied by the above factors, and 

 natural phenomena will, therefore, tend to alter at least 

 the appearance, if not the colour, of the subaqueous life in 

 different waters. Whatever purpose the salmon has in 

 his pursuit of a moving object, it is certain that unless 

 scared by former experience, he will most readily attack 

 the object which has the most natural appearance and 

 movement. 



As the ever-varying influences of natural and meteoro- 

 logical phenomena will affect the colour of moving objects, 

 as hunger may not cause the attack of the fish, and as 

 destruction, from whatever cause it arises, certainly is 

 the result, the colour of the lure appears to be secondary in 

 importance to its having a natural movement and being of a 

 moderate size, and the latter factors should therefore, in my 

 opinion, be the basis dominating the appearance of the lure 

 which should be chosen. 



