ON RAPID STREAMS. 69 



sufficient strength to resist the wear and tear it 

 will be subjected to in the mouth of the sharp- 

 toothed trout, and so spliced to the gut that it 

 will never slip. Much has been written about 

 making the fly so like what is natural that a cat 

 will be as easily deceived by the imitation as the 

 trout we desire to catch, about small bodies and 

 small heads; this is all very well, perhaps in 

 some measure true, where we have to rely on our 

 fly solely as an imitation of the natural insect, as 

 in slow rivers, but this does not hold good on 

 rapid streams. I object to the winged fly on 

 rapid streams, because the wings are so soon 

 washed down upon the shank of the hook, and 

 therefore lose the appearance 'which they have 

 when dry, and because they are so soon worn out ; 

 and in themselves, even supposing they did in the 

 water look precisely as they do out, they are not 

 one jot superior in their power of exciting the 

 trout, to the simple hackle fly. Upon broad 

 streams and quiet water, I often use them, but 

 even here I cannot assert, from experience, their 

 superiority; there are however just a few periods in 

 the year when they may beneficially be employed. 

 In March, when the trout are universally feeding 

 on the March brown fly, I generally keep one if 

 I am on a broad stream, on my collar. Towards 

 the end of April and in May, the class of flies 

 known as the blue duns are best imitated by a 

 wing fly, and these are the only flies I have ever 

 been pleased with when made with a wing. The 

 directions I am about to give for making flies are 



