70 CATCHING THE WILY SEA-TROUT 



has done its duty in collecting three or four fish, as to 

 mount a new fly is more satisfactory than troubling to 

 file a point and thereby risking a fractured barb. 



This fly can be dressed without difficulty in a minute 

 or two as the size of the materials is large, and there is 

 no need to be fastidious in the work. A vice is not 

 necessary : lithe fingers without other aids can do the 

 deed. 



I should be the first to admit that the eager acceptance 

 of this crudely formed artificial proves nothing, as, when 

 my flies of repute were sent over, the sea-trout may have 

 been snoozing or chewing the cud of contentment, and 

 had I persevered with my specials at the time when I 

 cast the feathered monstrosity, the fish may, with 

 alacrity, have sampled the customary lures, for with fish 

 and fishing you never can tell. Nevertheless, I have 

 given further trials to my pollack fly and it has deceived 

 the sea-trout and surprised me. 



To see how this fly acts in the water, I reeled it slowly 

 against the current and I was impressed with its nimble- 

 ness. It darted to the right and then to the left with 

 every quarter turn of the reel, and it came towards me 

 like a fluttering chip off a rainbow : so probably its 

 sparkling liveliness is the reason for its defeat of the sea- 

 trout. 



At the commencement of this chapter reference was 

 made to the use of a dry fly. To attain a modicum of 

 reward from this artistic method calls for extra finesse 

 on the part of the angler. No slack work pays in this 

 affair. Some men seem to think that they can clump 

 upstream, throw an abnormally long line and hook a 

 sea-trout, but those fishers are, I think, nurtured on very 

 vain hopes. 



Lengthy casting has its advantages on lakes and on 

 wide open rivers, but on narrow waters I condemn it 



