206 CHOICE OF FLY. 



They have found it prove a charm on days 

 when their catch headed the list of Hotel 

 takings; so that no amount of subsequent 

 failure can displace the memory of those 

 triumphs. With other men a fly is a legend. 

 They have been told by friends that it is the 

 fly to use in certain months. They therefore 

 continue year after year to * put it up,' 

 assuring themselves that if the fish will not 

 take this they will take no other. 



There is all the vexed controversy of colour, 

 of size, of wings or hackle, of gut flies or eyed 

 flies, of turned up eyes and turned down eyes, 

 of patterns which are best fished wet or fished 

 dry; so that the subject becomes altogether too 

 involved to be useful to a beginner. He should 

 listen very little to anything dogmatic; which, 

 even if correct, may be applicable to other 

 rivers, and not to the one he is fishing. After 

 his very first season the beginner must learn 

 by experience; not being in the least ashamed 

 to try any fly which he thinks may tempt 

 either trout or grayling. 



Then again it is impossible, when mentioning 

 a particular fly by name, to convey much idea 

 of its appearance unless dressed in the same 

 way all over the country. If different dressings 

 of certain flies bear the same relation to the 

 parent type that the varieties of pigeons do to 

 the wild Rock pigeon, then it is no wonder 

 that anglers understand something quite different 

 from each other, when they recommend a 

 particular species of artificial fly for use on a 



