THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 101 



Pisc. Marry, Scholar, but I would not be there, nor indeed 

 from under this tree : for look how it begins to rain ; and by the 

 clouds, if I mistake not, we shall presently have a smoking 

 shower, and therefore sit close ; this sycamore-tree will shelter 

 us : and I will tell you, as they shall come into my mind, more 

 observations of fly-fishing for a trout. 



But, first, for the wind ; you are to take notice, that of the 

 winds the south wind is said to be best. One observes, that 



When the wind is south. 



It blows your bait into a fish's mouth. 



Next to that, the west wind is believed to be the best : and 

 having told you that the east wind is the worst, I need not tell 

 you which wind is the best in the third degree. And yet, as 

 Solomon observes, that " he that considers the wind shall never 

 sow ;" so he that busies his head too much about them, if the 

 weather be not made extreme cold by an east wind, shall be a 

 little superstitious : for as it is observed by some, that there is no 

 good horse of a bad color ; so I have observed, that if it be a cloudy 

 day, and not extreme cold, let the wind sit in what corner it will, 

 and do its worst, I heed it not. And yet take this for a rule, that 



The size of your fly is however to be studied, for, according as the day is 

 bright or clouded, the surface of the water calm or ruffled, or its color 

 clear or shaded, will the eye of the trout be keen ; and the fly on a larger 

 hook be rejected, or that on the smedler unnoticed. Flies are divided into 

 flies proper with wings, and palmers, or hackles, without wings. No 

 angler goes unprovided with plenty of brown, black and red (of different 

 shades) hackles, made on several sizes of hooks. The red hackle is " the 

 queen of them all," but in our northern streams on a warm bright day the 

 black is deadly. One of the most killing that ever came under my eye, 

 was a coarse-looking black hackle, made by an English angler for himself, 

 unlike any natural fly that ever fed a trout. It did good service through 

 successive months, until literally worn out. Flies with wings are made of 

 more materials than we have space to give a list of, though the angler need 

 not send to the West Indies for green monkey's fur, nor search through an 

 ornithological collection for rare feathers. The rustic angler, who never 

 saw a foreign bird or beast, finds abundant material to make as wily coun- 

 terfeits a;> any that fill the pocket of the most travelled, book-learned pro- 

 fessor of piscatorial entomology. Never allow a good feather to be lost, or 

 a good fur to escape you, but lay them up for use with your various silks 

 and gold and silver threads. — im. Ed. 



