120 ON TROUTING WITH THE FLY. 



for any of them, to put on two or three of that 

 sort, leaving on one of a different colour in case of 

 any change in the humour of the fish, which, how- 

 ever, rarely happens. We have invariably found 

 ourselves gainers by adopting this method, and 

 that the droppers which had before been doing 

 little killed their due proportion when changed to 

 the taking fly. 



In order to ascertain the relative value of the 

 tail-fly and the droppers, we fished for a succession 

 of days with three flies of exactly the same size, 

 colour, and shape, and tied upon gut of the same 

 thickness. At the conclusion, the proportion stood 

 3, 2, 2, the droppers thus capturing the same 

 number, and the tail-fly a half more than either 

 of them. We also fished for several days with 

 four flies of the same kind, when the proportion 

 was 12. 7, 6, 8. The tail-fly has the best chance, 

 because in casting to the opposite bank, where the 

 most trout are taken with the fly, it alone reaches 

 it. The gut is also only on one side of it, whereas 

 the others have gut on both sides. It will be seen 

 that after the tail-fly, the dropper nearest the line 

 has the next best chance, which we ascribe to its 

 being nearest the bank when casting on the same 

 side of the water on which we were standing. 

 The foregoing trials were made with the view of 

 ascertaining when a fly is not doing its duty and 

 ought to be changed ; they were all conducted 

 in a river which could be commanded from bank 



