SALMON FLIES 



By the RIGHT HON. SIR HERBERT MAXWELL, BART. 



IN the whole range of angling there is no subject upon which such 

 irreconcilable difference of opinion prevails as upon the need for 

 variety in salmon flies and the respective merits of different patterns. 

 Although of late years I have met with an increasing number of 

 anglers whom experience has brought to a similar opinion as my- 

 self upon this matter, it is probable that we are still in a minority, 

 and that the majority adhere to belief in the virtue of " changing the 

 fly." The belief, which every successive season's experience has added 

 confirmation in my own mind, is that it does not matter one hayseed 

 what is the colour or material of the object called a salmon fly that one 

 presents to the notice of a salmon, provided that it is not too large to 

 excite suspicion, or too small to escape observation, and that it is given a 

 lifelike motion. 



I was not always of that faith — or want of faith : far from it. I was 

 entered to salmon fishing in the belief that colour and material were of 

 primary importance; that it might be fatal to success if a fly with yellow 

 silk body were used instead of one with black wool, as prescribed by the 

 local authority, or vice versa. I used to comply so strictly with the pre- 

 cept of changing a fly that had been missed or refused by a salmon, that 

 I find it recorded in my fishing book how, when fishing a pool close to 

 the sea in the River Luce on October 15, 1870, I raised a fish five times, 

 changed the fly each time, and killed him on the sixth offer. It cannot 

 now be proved, but I entertain no doubt that if I had presented the same 

 fly each time, the result would have been identical. 



As experience grew with years, so my faith in the accepted doctrine 

 waned, and I began to find it difficult to reconcile with reason the lists 

 of special flies prescribed for each separate river in the United Kingdom. 

 For instance, in the delightful "Book on Angling," by Francis Francis, 

 hundreds of different patterns are arranged under the heading of the rivers 

 for which they were held appropriate, if not essential; and, in addition, 

 a list of seventeen ** general " flies was added which were recommended 

 for use anywhere. Now I suppose there is no fly recognized at the pre- 

 sent day as being more suitable for ** general " use — ^in other words, 

 none is more generally used — ^than "Jock Scott" and the "Wilkinson"; 

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