

FLY-FISHING. 89 



For flies, (as Barker observes for his night ang- 

 ling,) take white for darkness; red in medio; 

 and black for lightness. The M arch Brown and 

 Red Palmer, which has a black head, partake 

 a little of all, and therefore, with the addition 

 of a white moth for dark nights, the angler may, 

 in what few rivers I have ever fished, do vastly 

 well. No doubt, however, that an occasional 

 variety of flies may do a little better, and par- 

 ticularly if these had been too much hacknied 

 by other people. But, in the long run, I have 

 never found sufficient advantage from variety to 

 be troubled with taking more than two or three 

 kinds of flies. And as to carrying, as many do, 

 a huge book of flies, nearly as large as a family 

 bible, for common Trout streams is like a be- 

 ginner in drawing, who uses twenty cakes of 

 colour or more, where a quarter the number, if 

 properly managed, would answer the same pur- 

 pose. The Piscator, however, has a right to 

 take what he pleases. With regard to hooks, 

 I have always found the Irish ones far superior 

 to ours. The best, I believe, are bought in 

 Limerick. 



THROWING A FLY. In throwing a fly raise 

 the arm well up, without labouring with your 

 body. Send the fly both backwards and for- 

 wards by a sudden spring of the wrist. Do not 

 draw the fly too near, or you lose your purchase 



