I 3 8 A BOOK ON ANGLING 



many of these, whether it be owing to the depth of water or 

 what not, fancy has a good deal to do with the trouts' notions, 

 though on others I have found entomology exceedingly suc- 

 cessful. Of course here and there one meets some old fellow 

 who knows every stone and eddy, and whose local knowledge 

 must give him a great advantage ; but, as a rule, I have 

 always found a close imitation of the natural fly to do better 

 than all the blacks, or browns, or reds, or blues, or hare-lugs, 

 and all the colours of the rainbow, which the Celtic practitioner 

 regards as sacred traditions. I never wanted yet to ask what 

 fly was taking, if there were any fly at all on, knowing at a 

 glance, from experience, pretty well what the fly was ; for a 

 blue dun, or a yellow dun, or red spinner, or a March brown, 

 are the same flies, and should be dressed in the same way on 

 the north of Tweed as on the south. 



Although there are many kinds of flies which do kill, the 

 chief ones which the angler must rely upon are those which 

 are best known to the trout, and these are the flies born of 

 the water, or which from their habits and location are most 

 likely to be blown on to it. Of these, though there are a con- 

 siderable number in the aggregate, yet the best of them, and 

 those which are most abundant, are found on every stream, 

 and are, as I have said, the same on all of them, and they are 

 not so numerous but that any angler may with a little trouble 

 become tolerably well acquainted with them. Of course 

 there are partial and local exceptions flies which are found 

 in some waters and not in others but even these he will 

 become acquainted with in time. Do not listen therefore, 

 dearly beloved pupil, to delusive talk of hares' ears and yellow, 

 or hare's ear and purple, or green, or what not, or bloas of all 

 sorts of shades, or fancy flies of endless hue. Some of these 

 certainly kill, but it is rather a fluke if they do, while the odds 

 are that they don't. I will give a list of the best of them, 

 firstly, because, as I said, they do kill sometimes, and, secondly, 

 because my book would certainly be held incomplete by many 

 anglers without it ; but always first try the fly that is on, 

 or has been on, or which you think ought to be on, before you 

 venture upon these fancies, and be sure that, wherever you 

 go, you will find your March browns, stone flies and drakes, or 

 your willow flies, alders, sand flies and cinnamons, your duns 

 and spinners, etc., feeding the trout more or less. These are 

 your ground-tackle, your holdfast, and if you once master 

 enough of a fly-fisher's entomology to get a fair knowledge 



