86 ELEMENTS OF ANGLING. 



angler who has never taken a trout with a fly tied 

 by himself in exact imitation of some insect on the 

 water at the time. This is rather an extreme view 

 of it, but the fact remains that it does pay to fish 

 with something as nearly approaching the real 

 thing as one can get, and the old hand gives a 

 great deal of attention to the fly on the water, and 

 has his fly-book stuffed with a host of varied 

 patterns. After saying this, it may sound contra- 

 dictory if I advise the novice only to get a few, but 

 I am sure the counsel is sound. In fishing one 

 must progress gradually, and it is far better at first 

 to have a few flies, and to understand their value, 

 than to be perplexed by a great number of which 

 one does not even know the names. Therefore 

 let the novice provide himself with the following 

 patterns : March brown, hare's ear, GreenwelPs 

 glory, blue upright, coch-y-bondhu, red upright, 

 Wickham's fancy, and coachman. He should also 

 get a little black fly, which so far as I know has no 

 particular name ; if he asks for a " sparsely hackled 

 black spider" he will get the right thing. All these 

 flies should be tied on gut, and they should vary in 

 size. The March browns, for instance, should be 

 of three sizes, Nos. 3, i, and o, as the modern 

 standard is. The Greenwell's glories and coach- 

 men should also be in three sizes, Nos. i, o, and oo, 



