FLOATING FLIES 75 



attracts to itself all the attention of the trout, and 

 therefore the angler cannot afford to ignore it. The 

 welcome it receives is rapturous. Some anglers 

 never see it, either owing to misfortune in their 

 choice of day or to the fact that they are timid to 

 venture on the river before the balmy days of May. 

 In either case they miss what is probably the most 

 glorious and thrilling sport of the whole trouting 

 season. 



It is good to be on the river in April ; there may 

 be one or two days of disappointment, but persist- 

 ence will surely meet its reward a strong westerly 

 breeze, sunshine and cloud, and a hatch of the gay 

 March Brown. As the tempting flies are blown 

 before the wind on to the sparkling pool the river 

 awakes from its winter sleep ; too long has the 

 surface remained unspread ; at length the feast is 

 prepared and the trout rise in glee, splashing over 

 the drifting flies in ecstasy. Soon all is quiet again, 

 but the fish are on the watch, and the artificial, 

 deftly delivered at the tail of the stream, will delude 

 one into thinking that the forerunner of the next 

 shower has arrived. 



A really good pattern of March Brown we have 

 not yet seen, and we are not completely satisfied 

 with the dressing recommended below. At the most 

 we manage only one day per annum on the river 

 when this fly is in evidence, and in some seasons we 

 miss it altogether ; so that it takes a long time to 

 investigate the qualities of an artificial. Therefore 

 the pattern is still in the experimental stage to a far 

 greater extent than the majority of the others ; but 

 nevertheless it will meet with considerable accept- 

 ance from the trout. Possibly exactness is even 



