110 THE PRACTICAL ANGLER 



roughness of the water and the darkness of the sky 

 prevent trout from seeing the flies so distinctly; 

 therefore, the clearer the water and brighter the day, 

 the smaller should the fly be, and the thicker the 

 water and darker the day, the larger should it be; 

 always increasing or diminishing the fly as circum- 

 stances prevent its being easily seen, or the reverse. 



Where trout are not much fished for, larger flies 

 may be used than where the reverse is the case, as 

 the trout under these circumstances get suspicious, 

 and look twice at a fly before they take it. The 

 reason why shy trout will take a small fly more 

 readily than a large one is, that since they cannot 

 see it so distinctly, its artificial nature is not so 

 easily detected. In streams where the trout are 

 very shy we generally find that the very smallest 

 fly raises most fish. 



When commencing a day^s fly-fishing at any 

 season, the angler should begin with three or four 

 different varieties say a black spider for the tail-fly, 

 a woodcock wing with yellow silk and red hackle 

 for the first dropper, a hare-lug body and corn- 

 bunting wing for the second dropper, and a dun- 

 coloured spider for the fourth fly. It will be found 

 advisable, if the trout evince a decided preference 

 for any of them, to put on two or three of that 

 sort, leaving on one of a different colour in case of 

 any change in the humour of the fish, which, how- 

 ever, rarely happens. We have invariably found 

 ourselves gainers by adopting this method, and that 

 the droppers which had before been doing little 



