FLIES AND FLY FISHING. 17 



instead of passively floating, and therefore under entirely 

 different conditions from the natural fly." It seems 

 hardly credible that any one who professes to have the 

 slightest knowledge of fly fishing could so write. 



For both the artificial and the natural fly are, or 

 should be, presented to the fish under exactly the same 

 conditions, at least as far as they possibly can be, con- 

 sidering there is a line to one. The imitation, when 

 sunk under water, has the appearance of the live dry fly 

 on the surface, and it is only on its being taken out of the 

 water that it presents the aspect of a dead wet fly, and 

 with about three exceptions, such as the stone fly, &c., 

 should not be worked at all when fishing for brown 

 trout or grayling, but allowed to float passively. Another 

 writer with rather more show of reason says: "You 

 frequently find that two men have fished the same stream, 

 the same day, and with equal success, and yet they 

 have used totally different flies." I doubt your often 

 finding this to have happened in the case of two good 

 fishermen, because from their knowledge of flies they 

 would have been almost sure to have had the same fly on 

 at some period of the day ; but, even supposing they 

 had not, there is no reason why fish should not rise to a 

 dozen different flies during a whole day, but they take 



