THE FLY QUESTION 113 



always remember that a friend of mine got a fish 

 of well over four pounds with it on one occasion. 



Setting aside the comparatively few anglers whose 

 practice is really scientific and who have and use 

 a wide knowledge of fisherman's entomology, I 

 suppose most of us are more or less guided by the 

 rough general principle of wishing to use something 

 more or less like what the fish happen to be taking 

 at the time. And I suppose that I am not alone 

 in believing that on a good many occasions what one 

 may call a " typical " fly is good enough. Suppos- 

 ing, for instance, that there are lightish olives on 

 the water, it would not be surprising if the trout 

 were equally ready to take a light olive quill, a 

 ginger quill, a hare's ear, a light-blue quill, or perhaps 

 some other variety of cock-winged dun, supposing 

 all the patterns to be of the same size and shape. 

 Any one of these patterns presumably gives the 

 fish a representation of the natural fly good enough 

 for their needs. At one time I pinned my faith 

 to the ginger quill as the typical pattern and had no 

 cause for dissatisfaction. Then Mr. Halford brought 

 out his new patterns, his medium olive took my 

 fancy, and since I have hardly used the ginger quill 

 at all. I must confess that I have never found any 

 difference in the killing power of the two sexes, but 

 I have used the female most as it has a slightly more 



