H2 Wet-Fly Fishing 



of catching them is questionable, but when 

 they are in condition. The lateness or 

 the reverse of the fishing season, on any 

 particular river, depends on many circum- 

 stances; its height above the sea-level, 

 for one. 



For instance, one river I once knew well 

 (in Perthshire) does not begin to fish till 

 May Day, as a rule ; whilst in others, quite 

 as far north, fly-fishing towards the middle 

 of May, is already getting somewhat past 

 its best. In the choice of flies, my rule is 

 to consult Nature first. Frequently, how- 

 ever, this rule must be ignored, the trout 

 preferring one of the droppers, for some 

 quite unaccountable reason, it being wholly 

 unlike the natural fly of the hour. Even 

 when a dropper has been tied on gut 

 much too stout, I have seen the trout 

 evince such a preference for it, that I have 

 placed its fellow as the tail fly, and at once 

 found the change beneficial. I feel sure of 

 one thing, and I wish it to be noted care- 

 fully, that our artificial flies, in wet-fly fish- 

 ing, are not presented to a trout's vision, in 

 the same manner as when they are floated 

 over them dry, and with their wings cocked. 

 I shall take away the breath of some purist 

 anglers when I say that, often when I wish 



