FLY FISHING FOR TEOUT. 107 



I won't enter on the argument* as to why one should 

 imitate nature in his flies as closely as possible. If any 

 one wishes to learn why this should be done, they can find 

 it set out at length in my " Book on Angling ;" but I 

 have no space for that, or many other matters here. I 

 recommend the angler to imitate nature, myself. If the 

 angler is content to take his advice and instruction from 

 me, well and good, if not, let him go elsewhere. Acci- 

 dental flies and general flies, no doubt, catch fish, and 

 often abundantly at times, but there are dozens of times, 

 when the fish are feeding on some particular fly, and when, 

 if you happen to have a good imitation of that fly, you 

 can fill your basket ; and, if you have not, a bare fish or 

 two will be all your take, and often you will not catch even 

 that. Only last season I fished down about three-quarters 

 of a mile of water, trying two or three duns I got four 

 or five rises, and caught one fish. I came back to the top 

 (the fish were rising incessantly all the time I fished), I 

 changed the fly for an exact imitation of the one on the 

 water, and, going over the same water a second time, I got 

 over thirty good rises, and hooked seven or eight brace of 

 fish. Of course the first time you go over a water in the 

 day is by far the most favourable time, if the fish are rising. 



Now, there are two ways of fishing your fly, the one, 

 and the most common one, is with the wet fly ; the other, and 

 the more scientific, is with the dry. The wet fly is cast 

 upon the water time after time, and usually sinks, more or 

 less, beneath the surface, and it can only be taken for a 

 drowned fly or some other water insect. In this case you 

 will often not see the rise of the fish, and you must have 

 one eye on the line, and when you see it check or stop, 

 strike instantly. There are waters in many parts of the 

 country, however, where, after about the middle of May, 



