FLIES A^sD FLY FISHING. 27 



appeared on the water ; as a rule, the colder the day, the 

 darker the shades of the flies out. Always fish with flies 

 born of the water in preference to land bred flies ; these 

 last should only be used on windy days, there is just one 

 exception to this : the orange palmer, which kills well 

 on warm still days. It is always better to lead with the 

 largest fly. When fishing for brown trout, never use 

 more than three flies, as a rule, two is quite sufficient. I 

 never use more, except in large rivers. There is no mis- 

 take so common amongst fishermen as continually changing 

 their flies, and it is the very greatest mistake ; if fish are 

 not on the feed, shewing them every fly in your book 

 will not make them rise any better, and in constantly 

 changing you are only losing time. 



Supposing you to have started fishing with the flies 

 on your cast that to the best of your judgment ought to 

 kill, never change, except for the following reasons : If 

 you find that the fish are feeding on a certain fly, the 

 imitation of which is not on your cast, change to that fly, 

 putting it on to lead. 



Or if you keep rising fish short without hooking them, 

 although in this case they occasionally rise from play, and 

 not hunger : yet, the probability is that they are seeking 

 for a particular fly, which they discover your imitations 



