2O 



perfection, and to deceive the wary two or three or four pound 

 trout which abound, say, in the Test, all the skill which the 

 angler can bring to bear is required, and to accomplish 

 this, it is often necessary to fish what is called the " dry " 

 fly. In this the angler pins his faith on a single fly, a 

 winged one, which he throws up stream over a rising fish, 

 and so manipulates it as to bring it floating down the 

 river with upright wings like a living fly. The hackled fly 

 fished on such rivers would, of course, be out of place, and 

 whilst strongly leaning to hackles for our own rivers there 

 are times in big, bold waters and when fishing imitations of 

 large flies, when winged flies will sometimes kill quite as 

 well as hackled, or spider-flies. One other point. Within 

 reasonable limits, the flies for Yorkshire rivers, and for 

 most other rivers of equal size, for as the size of your river 

 increases so, to a small extent, must your flies cannot 

 well be dressed too sparingly in the matter of feather. 

 It stands to sense that to a creature with such wonderful 

 vision as a trout it is better to err in offering a deception 

 rather too small than too large. Do not make the mistake, 

 though, of fishing hooks which are too small, or you will 

 fail to strike your fish. You will find it worth while to 

 examine your hooks every time you touch a fish and 

 miss him. The point of a fish-hook is probably more liable 

 to go than any other kind of steel, because the hooks are 

 all pointed before they are hardened. You may remedy 

 an accident of this kind with a bit of Arkansas whetstone, 

 which you can get from any watch-maker and carry in your 

 waistcoat pocket. 



It will be noticed that several flies commonly fished on 

 English rivers, notably the May-flies the green and grey 

 drakes, the alder-fly and one or two others, are not in- 

 cluded in this work. The beautiful insect known as the 

 May-fly proper, which sits upon the water like some stately 



