FACTS AND FANCIES IN FLY FISHING. 261 



" We will direct our attention for a moment towards our favourite ' Coch-a- 

 boncldu.' The 'Marlow Buzz,' as it is termed, is far from being a truthful likeness 

 of the lady-bird, for which it is said to serve as deputy. The question arises, is it 

 the Peacock herl body or the hackle of this Welsh pattern that captivates the 

 fish ? We may leave the body entirely out of the question, and as to the hackle, 

 it no more resembles the legs of a lady-bird than the legs of the cockroach. To 

 say, however, that Trout take the fly for a minnow is just what I find by my 

 experience they do not take it for. On the other hand, sometimes Trout take 

 every precaution, and in one particular respect so do Salmon, and unless the fly 

 for both is extremely well copied- -say, on the VVandle for Trout, and on various 

 rivers spoken of presently for Salmon suspicion is aroused at once, and a general 

 .stampede takes place. This teaching of Nature and training of man applies 

 equally to the size of the fly as regards both Trout and Salmon. On one river 

 say, the Darenth we use a small Iron Blue, because the living insect in Kent is 

 small ; and on another river say, the Usk the pattern is ' put up ' twice as 

 big, because there the living insect is twice as large. But on such a river, say, as 

 the Lochy, the Salmon have learnt to take the most diminutive flies, because 

 the Fishermen have for years been gradually decreasing the size of their 

 artificials. 



" At this point I would ask the reader to turn a ready and confiding ear to 

 what I am about to whisper. Have not our acknowledged unmistakeable fancy 

 flies a far greater attraction at times for all rising Trout than those dressed so 

 delicately and so truthfully as to be the fac-simile of Nature herself? Does not the 

 ' Alexandra,' for example, kill any where and everywhere when our perfectly-dressed 

 Duns, Midges, and Gnats fail ignominiou. c ly ? And has not this notorious pattern 

 of mine occasioned such havoc in places as to be positively prohibited 1 Often 

 and often will Trout take the most fancy pattern ever introduced, whilst in 

 certain seasons (the May-fly season, for instance) they decline to notice our 

 book flies unless they are dressed true to Nature, ft is the very same thing with 

 Salmon. 



"Before entering into details, I would remark (1) That it is not uncommon 

 to kill Trout with all sorts of flies when March-browns and Alders are at their 

 best. With Salmon this is not so, for when their fly is in season they never deign 

 to notice anything else. (2) That all rising Trout are what all Salmon are not 

 persistently partial to natural flies throughout life. As regards this partiality, it 

 is necessary to remember the respective habits of Trout and of Salmon the one 

 species closely packed, struggling for existence in shallows and stickles ; the other 

 disbanded, in screened lay-byes and deep pools, peacefully blessed with the fulness 

 of satiety, and not amenable to the pangs of hunger. (3) That all the young of 

 Salmon show a decided preference for any fly, either natural or artificial. They 

 come more greedily at them than Trout, whether the fly in use is naturally or ever 

 -so fancifully dressed ; and though in after years some come much more kindly to 



