SALMON FLIES 

 certain colours and combinations which had no attraction for former 

 generations of his kind. Such a proposition has only to be expressed 

 in words to manifest its absurdity. What, then, is the source of the total 

 change in the fashion of salmon -flies during the last half -century ? Why 

 does the modern Tweed fisherman turn with indifference from *' Meg- 

 in-her-braws " which, when Scrope wrote in the early 'forties, was con- 

 sidered gaudy as compared with other Tweed flies, and prescribe such 

 brilliant confections as the " Durham Ranger " and the " Wilkinson " ? 

 It arises solely from a notion that what tickles the human fancy must 

 be attractive to that of a salmon. Being a perfectly harmless illusion, 

 unless it is indulged to such an extent as to interfere with the fisher 

 keeping some fly constantly in the water, he must needs be a philosopher 

 of a very austere school that would condemn or discourage it. Salmon- 

 flies are very pretty things, of which a moderate variety will contribute 

 not a little to the angler's enjoyment. Accordingly in Plates VIII and IX 

 are shown a few typical patterns. It may serve to explain, if not to justify, 

 the impartiality with which I regard any one of these patterns, and the 

 perfect indifference which I should feel as to which of them I should 

 choose to exhibit on any river where salmon were to be caught, if I give 

 the following illustration. As a young fellow, I used to fish a good deal 

 in the North Tyne from Reedsmouth down to Countess Park. Not having 

 been there since the year 1874, I lately asked a friend who is in the habit 

 of fishing it, what flies were in vogue on that water now. " Well," said 

 he, "I don't think it matters what fly one uses, so long as it is not a 

 'Blue Doctor.' I never can do any good at all with that." I turned up 

 my old flshing journal and showed him where a "Blue Doctor," tied by 

 a railway porter at Reedsmouth Station, was preserved, with the record 

 that it had landed six salmon in the Reedsmouth water. 



But if colour and material are of little moment in a salmon -fly, great 

 is the importance of size. The fly must be large enough to attract the 

 notice of the salmon, and not large enough to scare him. In judging of 

 this, season, temperature and height of water must be the governing 

 factors; and how great is the range of scale may be seen in Plate IX, 

 wherein are represented the largest and the smallest flies which I have 

 known to kill salmon. With the large one (No. 6) I killed a spring salmon 

 of 15 lb. in Deeble Pool on Helmsdale, February 14, 1899; with the small 

 one (No. 7), a "Professor," Sir Hugh Shaw Stewart killed two salmon, 

 7 lb. and 6 lb., in the Cree in July, 1905. 



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