4O Trouting-Flies. 



knowledge trout possess, any more than they are 

 likely to settle the once vexed question as to how 

 many angels can dance on the point of a needle. 

 The knowledge possessed may be extensive or other- 

 wise, but it is certainly sufficient and eminently 

 practical. The tastes of fish may be variable, and 

 even whimsical, but the angler will only ascertain 

 what these are by studying them. Experience 

 alone is the guide ; and my experience, as already 

 given, points to the conclusion that trout do dis- 

 criminate between fly and fly even under the most 

 unfavourable conditions ; and I am quite content 

 to accept this fact with all that it implies. 



Mr Stewart, in his excellent manual on Angling, 

 and Mr Stoddart before him, say that anglers who 

 hold the view that successful fly-fishing requires 

 the use of an imitation of one or other of the natu- 

 ral insects on the water, are therefore necessarily 

 obliged to have an infinite variety of flies. I have 

 already hinted that this is not my opinion. Very 

 few varieties are really necessary, but those selected 

 at any one time should be facsimiles of flies that are 

 in greatest favour with the trout then. I have my- 

 self fished with flies of every form and colour, and 

 have caught fish with all of them. But I would 

 not recommend them all on that account as equally 

 deadly: many of them, indeed, are practically of 

 no value for good sport. The angler may catch 



