SALMON FLIES 

 over; pintail or teal hackle at shoulder; wing, strips of yellow and 

 black-dyed swan, pintail or farmyard drake over and two jungle- 

 fowl hackles, blue chatterer at cheek; topping over all. 

 A native of the Cumberland Eden, named, it may be imagined, from 

 its faculty of taking hold and keeping it. I give the "Bulldog" a place in 

 this select gallery (where there is no room for '• Jock Scott " and other 

 far-famed killers), because it was with this fly that I killed my first salmon 

 in Norway. Arriving at the lodge at 5 p.m. on Saturday night, there was 

 only an hour to run before the Norwegian Sunday begins, on which day 

 angling is suspended, and rightly so. My hostess had just returned from 

 fishing the pool close to the house, where she had failed to move any- 

 thing. " Will you have a cup of tea," she asked, ** or would you like to have 

 a cast before Sunday begins ? " No need to quote my reply; in feverish 

 haste I put my gear together; a large " Bulldog " happened to be the fly 

 that came first to hand, and down I scuttled to the pool which had yielded 

 nothing to three hours' flogging. It is a wide, streamy pool; to reach the 

 lie of the fish a boat is necessary, so I embarked at once and had not made 

 many casts before I fancied I saw a fin show above the broken water 

 near the fly. I could not be sure; but all doubt was set at rest at the next 

 cast, for I was fast in a fish. The behaviour of that salmon was a bit of a 

 revelation to me, for there is no manner of doubt that these northern fish, 

 aided by a swift and powerful water, fight harder and run more strongly 

 than those in our small rivers at home. He left the pool, and it was well 

 into Sunday before I was able to extract the "Bulldog" from his massive 

 maw — a clean-run fish of 21 lb. 



3. " The Black Dog " (Tay pattern). Tag, silver twist and golden 



floss; tail, topping and sprigs of scarlet ibis; butt, black chenille; 



body, black floss, ribbed with ruby floss between broad silver tinsel 



on one side and gold twist on the other; black cock's hackle over the 



whole length of the body, at the shoulder a long-fibred black heron's 



hackle, with a guinea-fowl over; wing, strips of dark brown turkey, 



red and yellow dyed swan, claret cock's hackle, purple peacock's 



herl; a slice of wood-duck and a jungle-fowl hackle on each shoulder. 



Large topping over all. 



There are many variations in the dressings of this fly, yellow floss 



being substituted sometimes for ruby in the body, but the general effect 



should be sombre. It is used in large sizes, and I have particular cause 



to fancy it for a flooded river in spring. For instance, in February, 1911, 



47 



