174 FISHING IN EDEN 



Besides the glinting body of an artificial wet fly, 

 the softness and wavyness of the hackle and wings 

 is of the utmost importance. If the feathers are not 

 soft, or are bunched together in too great a mass, 

 their movement will be decreased, and their power 

 of attraction, to say the least, considerably 

 minimised. 



In glaring sunlight, reflection from the river's 

 bottom must play a large part in regard to the 

 modification of colour tone. 



It is a moot question how much the natural 

 transparency of insects is revealed when looked at 

 from below towards the light. The body and wings 

 of flies, however, leaving out altogether the question 

 of colour, must reveal something of natural size and 

 form. Size, form, and movement are, therefore, 

 very important considerations for the fly dresser. 



Fishermen like " Bob " know this from long 

 experience from both failure and success. They 

 frequently catch flies and examine them for this 

 very purpose. 



The hinge on which the more common actions of 

 trout turn is the food question. 



I remember many years ago rummaging through 

 an old gun-box in which an aged fishing relative at 

 Musgrave, on the Eden, kept his flies. We were 

 going out to fish. Just before starting the old man 



