FISHING IN NEWFOUNDLAND 249 



two earlier or later our experience would have been 

 entirely different. On one river where we had most 

 excellent sport the yellow sally was the fly, while 

 the royal coachman (on No. 4 hook) came next. We 

 had but three yellow sallies with us, and these were 

 completely worn out by hard use. For late evening 

 fishing, if all else fails, I would advise using a very 

 large, light- coloured fly with a floating body. This 

 will occasionally coax a large fish from his hiding- 

 place when he would not notice a sunken fly, regard- 

 less of size. This advice, while not strictly ortho- 

 dox, is nevertheless founded on actual experience. 



When fish are rising well there is no need to 

 worry much about the kind of fly to use, but there 

 are times when, though they are jumping all around 

 you, and even playing skipping-rope with your line, 

 it requires something quite out of the ordinary 

 to coax them. Then it is that the reserve list 

 of out-of-the-way patterns comes in handy and 

 perhaps saves the day for you. Some fishermen 

 contend that it is useless to change the fly very 

 frequently, nevertheless it will be very often 

 observed that the first few casts with a newly- 

 changed fly will rise a fish which has been entirely 

 oblivious to the charms of the former fly. Each 

 man has ideas on how fish can best be coaxed, and 

 the delightful part of it is that each man knows he 

 is right. One will say that when the fly is cast it 

 should remain quietly on the water and be allowed 

 to float quietly down stream, while another insists 

 that the tip of the rod should be kept constantly 

 moving, in order that the fly shall be given a life- 

 like action of swimming. Personally I do not 



