14 THE BRITISH ANGLER'S LEXICON. 



Some anglers have a great eye for colour, and will choose a 

 shade that will be successful from a shade that looks to an 

 ordinary observer to be identically the same. This remark 

 applies very forcibly to orange and claret colours. Winged 

 flies are perhaps greater favourites than hackle flies. "The 

 latter are supposed to represent spiders or those insects 

 which shoot along the surface of the water and do not fly, 

 being destitute of wings. Hackle flies are seldom used in 

 the Irish rivers more in the North of England and Scotch 

 streams. They don't stand as much hard work as the 

 winged flies, and are generally composed of softer materials. 

 Different localities have special flies suitable, and it is a wise 

 proceeding for the angler when going to a strange place, 

 for the first time, to get acquainted with some local angler, 

 and procure from him patterns or consult him as to the sort 

 of flies that are used in the locality. He will be a gainer by 

 doing so. Some anglers and men of authority, too assert 

 that if the angler has three flies on his cast of the distinctive 

 colours of red, green, and yellow, or combinations of these, 

 that he will have all that is necessary for sport on any river 

 .all the year round. This assertion is contradicted in a most 

 emphatic manner by well-known angling authors and by 

 nearly every tackle maker or fly tyer, else they would never 

 keep and offer such a tremendous variety as they do ; still it 

 is true that there are too many useless patterns to be found 

 in most angler's books. There are about a dozen standard 

 flies, which can be counted upon to give successful sport on 

 any British river at any season of the year. Many of these 

 are dressed differently by various fly tyers, and localities 

 have some influence on this difference. Take for instance 

 the blue dun fly. One man will only use this fly w r hen 

 dressed with a silk body of the olive-greyish colour required; 



