248 THE BRITISH ANGLER'S LEXICON. 



care, and the judgment brought into play, how best to 

 throw the fly temptingly over him ; but this necessity for 

 the exercise of the angler's ingenuity is one of the great 

 charms of trout fishing. If trout were easily caught, by any 

 means, without any care or forethought or skill, the charm 

 would be lost. The greater the difficulty, the more credit 

 in overcoming it. The late Mr. Francis, in his charming 

 book on angling, gives such cases as these, and a perusal of 

 them will be of use and interest to the young angler. 



Trout Flies. Their name it legion, and exhaustive 

 lists can be found in any tackle maker's catalogue. English 

 and Scotch dressings are very similar. As a rule, spider or 

 hackle flies are favourites in Scotland and in the north of 

 England ; winged flies are mostly to be found in the south 

 of the latter country and over all Ireland. Many of the 

 English flies are now dressed with dyed quill bodies, which 

 are very neat, and stand wear and tear remarkably well. 

 Nearly every angler, after he has had a little practice in 

 the gentle art, begins to fashion his own flies or have them 

 dressed according to his particular ideas, believing, from 

 his observations and experience, that they will be more 

 successful as lures than those he has hitherto been in 

 the habit of using, and in many cases this may be true. He 

 may be apt at judging colour, and, as mentioned in previous 

 articles, colour is the essence of success. Whether the 

 body of the trout fly is composed of silk, fur, wool, or quill, 

 I believe if the colour is right it will be taken by the trout. 

 " Red Spinner," one of the most practical anglers of the 

 present day and a well-known writer on all relating to the 

 sport, has drawn attention even to the colour of the hooks 

 upon which the fly is dressed, and recommends careful 

 observation on the part of anglers as to the merits of blue 



