FLOATING FLIES 81 



splendid trout with a Blae and Black, the nearest 

 approach to the fly in demand that the box could 

 then furnish. 



We are of opinion that trout do not obtain a clear 

 view of the wings of a floating fly, and these experi- 

 ences just noted, as well as many others of a similar 

 nature, strengthen the belief that the body and 

 hackle are the points which should receive most 

 attention from the fly-dresser. 



The Blae and Black, or the Black Midge as we 

 now prefer to call it, since the name suggests at once 

 the insect it is intended to represent, is as fine a 

 pattern as one could float in July and August over 

 a feeding trout. Not only so, but the Clyde gray- 

 ling seems to prefer it beyond all flies, real and 

 unreal, and great is the execution we have done 

 with it. 



Of the smaller diptera, so exceedingly minute in 

 some cases that all attempts at imitation seem fore- 

 doomed to failure, trout appear to be particularly 

 fond. Webster's Black Mote and Halford's Black 

 Gnat we have invariably found quite ineffective 

 when trout are feeding on the tiny flies of the dark 

 body and white wing. That may be due to per- 

 sistent bad luck, but we have deceived or at least 

 attracted many a good fish indulging in a display of 

 this annoying habit, as it is frequently considered, 

 and that, too, by using a very simple fly, the simplest 

 of all, namely, a Badger Hackle. 



This feather has a black centre and white tips, 

 and two or three turns of it on a bare hook of small 

 size are all that is required to suggest to a trout the 

 natural insect. A short body of black silk (not that 

 it is necessary) may be added to allay the qualms 



