72 DRY-FLY FISHING 



dant on any attempt to produce an exact imitation. 

 The angler imitates a hexapod, but he must give 

 his artificial many more than six feet, or its power 

 to float will be negligible. There is, however, no 

 necessity to go to extremes, and that is precisely 

 what is generally done. The minimum quantity 

 of hackle that will float the fly should be the aim 

 of the fly-dresser ; to use more is to detract 

 seriously from the virtues of the lure. 



The third purpose of the hackle is to suggest 

 wings, and very admirably it succeeds, if one may 

 judge by the reception given by trout to the deadly 

 spiders. Some anglers would give the hackle a 

 fourth use ; it rectifies a mistake in casting, or 

 overcomes the difficulty they have in so delivering 

 the cast that a winged fly will sit on the water 

 with its wings cocked. They use spiders exclu- 

 sively, and their trouble ceases to exist. 



Simplicity of construction is advisable in a dry- 

 fly. We possess some very elaborate specimens, 

 with bodies divided up into different shades, most 

 wonderful replicas of the sub-imago of the Olive 

 Dun. A nearer approach to an exact imitation is 

 scarcely conceivable, but we are perfectly satisfied 

 that they are not at all superior to a simple pattern. 

 We have fished the simple and the complex simul- 

 taneously on the cast, giving them alternately 

 the tail position, and at the end of a long trial 

 against the wary trout of Clyde we could not 

 declare either the superior of the other. The basket 

 was by no means empty. 



No matter what fly should unexpectedly appear 

 on the water the angler need not be taken unawares. 

 If he will but carry with him a selection of silks 



