A FEW PATTERNS OF FLIES 213 



experience of every fly fisher, I think, that, 

 under the influence of the memory of a certain 

 fish taken on a particular pattern of fly, he in- 

 cludes a dozen or two of the sort in his next 

 purchase. Perhaps the fly is a nondescript that 

 he may never again find successful, but, never- 

 theless, he adds it to his store. Angling friends 

 recommend their patterns to him, or some 

 special flies they found taking under certain 

 circumstances or over particular streams, and 

 these, too, he buys and puts away. Maybe 

 he may never use one of them, and in the end 

 he comes, perhaps, to feel, as does the philate- 

 list, great pleasure in the possession of a wor- 

 thy collection: he has the pride of ownership, 

 but no thought of putting his treasures to use. 

 Of course, there can be no reasonable objection 

 to fly collecting, and I can see how it may be- 

 come as fascinating an employment as stamp 

 or coin collecting. 



Assuming that the angler is a believer in 

 close imitation, he will, of course, be content 

 only when he has all of the patterns which have 

 been created by the votaries of the theory; but 

 if he should be inclined to agree with me that 

 a great part of the imitation must be produced 

 by the angler himself while actually fishing the 



