76 FLY FISHING 



till the iron blue appeared ; after which the olive 

 failed, and an imitation of the iron blue suc- 

 ceeded, though natural olive duns as well as iron 

 blues continued in numbers on the water. 



In June, or perhaps even in the latter end of 

 May, a red quill becomes the more successful fly, 

 and a medium size, neither large nor small, is the 

 best. The trout have a tendency to prefer the 

 smaller sizes, and when their appetite has become 

 very delicate in hot summer weather the smallest 

 possible size 1 of red quill, not the smallest usually 

 offered for sale in tackle shops, but one specially 

 tied on the smallest hooks of all, is the most 

 attractive. This size may do very well with 

 trout up to one pound or one pound and a half, 

 but the hook is too small to hold strong fish of 

 a large size. The fish lost after being hooked 

 on these tiny flies far exceed in numbers those 

 which are landed, and it is better to rise fewer 

 fish with a medium-sized fly than to hook and 

 scare the best ones without getting any of them. 

 The same objection applies to imitations of that 

 troublesome little insect the " curse." 



The fourth kind of fly is a plain black hackle, 



1 I.E., No. ooo. 



