238 THE SALMON FLY. 



you follow his system on hard-fished rivers, though you had a district to 

 yourself, unless it were respected and generally followed by others fishing 

 below you. The bright fly will always be found to pay best on rivers 

 where both fish and Fishermen have been properly educated. And this is 

 not only because it is more natural, but because at such times fish see it 

 farther from them. Salmon are always more determined to take a fly 

 when rushing at it from a distance. The veteran did not happen to 

 know that the Catch in question had been temporarily spoilt by a pro- 

 longed and injudicious employment of, perhaps, a dozen of the brightest 

 flies in creation ; but your knowledge of his failure is enough, and you 

 proceed accordingly. 



The only rule from which as yet I have never deviated refers to fish- 

 ing in " flaked " water, and I shall now mention it. 



For years I never had much heart in thrashing away under these trying 

 conditions, which are of no uncommon occurrence on certain rivers. 



" Flaked " water arises from thunderstorms pelting down after a 

 spell of hot weather. When the hills with a Southerly aspect have for a 

 time been exposed to the rays of a scorching sun, the higher precipices 

 will be found covered with a more or less curly coat of thin, dry " draff." 

 A heavy rainstorm racks off this skin in particles, which, by a gradual 

 process of disintegration, afterwards rapidly thicken the water, till 

 eventually the whole neighbouring pools become not exactly muddy, but 

 " flaky." The discharge has only to be seen once to be remembered. 



" "Were it not for the flakes the water would be clear," I have heard 

 it remarked. Yet the water may be clear though flaked. 



Upon such occasions, I make it a standing rule to mount a " Silver 

 Spectre," and to use it, not in confined stretches darkened by trees or 

 overhanging rocks, but in open pools and places, where the whole light 

 has free play. 



In hazy weather I should use small dark flies. 



In fishing a Catch over again from the other side, it is the usual 

 practice to present a fly altogether differing in colour and character from 

 what the fish have seen just before. It may also be smaller and brighter. 

 The body, at any rate, should have extra attraction in the shape of 

 colour, even amounting to gaudiness ; and with "sides" and "cheeks," 



