260 THE SALMON FLY. 



this from evidence set before our very eyes, and it is little use disputing the fact. 

 Strange as it must appear, however, to the uninitiated (for people think differently 

 and set up all kind of theories), we have, in the opinion of some judges, reasons 

 for coming to the same conclusion as regards Salmon. In fact, had we worked on 

 any other principle it would have involved signal defeat in a vast number of 

 instances extending over a period of many years. We shall presently also see 

 whether it is better to follow mere speculative fancies, hopelessly ineffectual, or a 

 well-authenticated summary of interesting facts. Let me remark at the onset .that 

 I have never yet heard or seen in print any one single statement from a first-class 

 Salmon-angler one recognised as an authority by the experienced calculated to 

 support the prevailing idea that Salmon fancy our flies represent living things on 

 which they feed and fatten in the sea. This mistaken notion emanates from men 

 conscientious enough to doubt, but who jump at conclusions without ever having 

 had an opportunity by the riverside to enlighten them on the subject. My object 

 in writing is to endeavour, for the sake of beginners, to upset these speculative 

 fancies, and to show how I myself have profited by a system which sooner or later 

 will be respected by all. 



" Of late years the education of Salmon and Trout has become a subject of 

 more general care and attention. Assuming that we tried for Trout with a 

 straw-bodied May fly where the natural insect is unknown to the fish, say on the 

 Anton which runs in that famous river for May fly-fishing, the Test, what sport 

 could we expect ? Simply none. Dame Nature, for some lieneficent reason of her 

 own, fails to furnish a supply of these ephemera on the tributary, yet within a 

 stone's throw the yield on the main stream is very heavy. No wonder the sport 

 in the May-fly season is good in one place and worthless in another. The fact is, 

 Trout, in the selection of food, follow predilections implanted by Nature. The 

 flies which, as a rule, best allure them must therefore copy as closely as possible 

 the natural flies which are their most appreciated food. In the case of Salmon 

 this is not quite so evident, and so Fishermen have come to the conclusion that 

 man, for better or worse, educates Salmon, whilst Nature, for the most part, 

 educates Trout. At any rate, this is especially evidenced on Salmon rivers, both 

 in the combination of the actual materials employed in flies, and in the good or 

 bad all-round system of fishing I mean not only as regards the character, style, 

 and size of the flies used, but also in the method of attack that prevails. As an 

 average example of this training by Fishermen I killed fish thirty years ago with 

 a No. 4/0 hook body and wings of the most showy materials, whilst on the self- 

 same waters to-day men devote themselves to flies that betray no resemblance to 

 old favourites, either in colour, character, or size. Their patterns now are no 

 larger than natural March-browns, and many of them almost as sombre in appear- 

 ance. But the Trout-fisher often has to depart from the rule touching actual 

 imitation. He often uses, and uses successfully, flies dressed from imagination, as 

 for instance, the 'Governor' and ' Holland's Fancy.' 



