108 



I cannot conclude these remarks without pointing the above 

 moral, as it presents itself to my mind, and in its bearing on the 

 question of the advantages of the eyed-hook system : If the 

 colour and thickness of the link of gut next the fly are matters of 

 such vital moment with a view to the concealment of the lure, of 

 what paramount importance must it be to avoid the necessity, 

 once for all, of attaching the flies by a separate strand of gut, 

 always unsoaked, constantly of a different thickness and often of 

 a varying colour? The " continuity " of the cast is broken at its 

 most critical point. ... I will not lengthen this already 

 somewhat extended dissertation by recapitulating the other many 

 and great advantages of the system of attaching the fly direct to 

 the casting line by means of the turned-down eyed-hook and the 

 jam-knot, but I can only say that the system has, to me, doubled 

 the pleasure of fly-fishing ; and that the more experience I have 

 of it in practice, the more I find it fulfils the anticipations I 

 originally formed of it on theory. 



Before quitting the subject, however, I should like to add a 

 few words on the subject of the ' exact imitation theory ' and my 

 ' typical flies,' already touched upon. 



What I desire to say if indeed I have not said it elsewhere 

 is, that in suggesting the 3 typical flies, published in the " Modern 

 Practical Angler," as illustrations of the theory that for wet fly- 

 fishing the immense numbers of patterns with which the fly-fisher 

 crowds his book are really unnecessary and that a comparatively 

 few patterns (and of those probably hackle flies best) were all 

 that was really necessary, I did not assert, and never for a 

 moment supposed, that my 3 flies possessed any special magical 

 attractions over all others, and were the ultimate outcome of all 

 possible excellence. I did not assert, and did not think, that 

 they could not be improved upon indeed, I have, from time to 

 time, made several improvements in them myself, and I am by 

 no means sure that the taste for particular patterns does not change 



