SEA-TROUT FISHING 



5. "Polly Perkins," a Welsh sewin pattern. Tag, gold twist; tail, 

 tippet fibres ; body, bronze peacock herl, with coch-y-bondhu hackle at 

 shoulder; wing, mottled fawn and brown peacock (the feather on the wing 

 coverts) with small blue chatterer on the cheeks. 



6. An Irish pattern. Tag, silver twist and light orange floss; tail, a 

 small topping and blue chatterer ; body, light blue mohair, with bright 

 blue hackle at shoulder; wing, a couple of the jay's blue-barred feathers. 



7. '• The Harlequin." Tail, a whisk of teal; body, half orange and half 

 apple-green floss, ribbed with silver wire, finished at shoulder with a 

 black cock's hackle; wing, slices of starling's wing feather. I believe this 

 is the invention of that most successful angler, Mr Ashley Dodd. 



Whether these or other simulacra of the unknown be employed, the 

 prudent fisher will bring with him his own flies, tied on hooks and gut 

 of trustworthy temper and toughness. The movements of a sea -trout 

 when hooked are so rapid, its behaviour so violent, that the quality of 

 the tackle is sure to be tested to the utmost. If you would avoid chagrin 

 and the temptation to employ regrettable language, avoid also the tackle 

 which one often sees exposed in the village ironmonger's or chemist's 

 window in country towns. In such a position it is exposed to that which 

 quickly destroys the texture of even the best of gut, namely sunshine, 

 and the hooks are probably of cheap, and therefore treacherous, manu- 

 facture. It cannot be too constantly carried in mind by the sea -trout 

 fisher that, if he would escape disappointment, every article in his equip- 

 ment must be of faultless quality. 



This is a convenient occasion for a word or two on the methods of 

 weighing fish. Methods! quoth I — ^there is but one method entirely trust- 

 worthy, namely, that practised by every honest grocer and tobacconist — 

 the scales or steelyard. But the steelyard may be mislaid or left at home; 

 it may even happen to the fortunate angler to land a fish of greater weight 

 than his steelyard can record. It did so happen to Colonel Thornton, who 

 landed an enormous pike in Loch Alvie, *' measuring from eye to fork 

 five feet four inches."* " The weight of this fish," adds the Colonel, "judg- 

 ing by the trones we had with us, which only weigh twenty-nine pounds, 

 made us, according to our best opinions, estimate him at between forty- 

 seven and forty-eight pounds. "f In such a case one may arrive within a 



•Colonel Thornton's Sporting Tour in the Highlands (!n 1786), chapter v. 



tThls estimate tallies pretty closely with the authentic record of the proportion of weight to length in the pike 

 taken in Lough Romer, co. Cavan, in 1876, which measured 4 ft. 6^ in. long, 25 in. in girth, and weighed 37j lb. — 

 See the Field, May 30, 1896. 



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