262 THE SALMON FLY. 



Salmon flies than others, there is not one single breed not even that peculiarly 

 stubborn sort bred in the Trent that entirely refuses them. I cannot say so much 

 as this of Trout, for there are some that never take flies at all. 



" Trout of other breeds make flies their special food, but to see the gratifica- 

 tion of a similar propensity amongst Salmon I do not mean samlets we have to 

 travel far and wide. Seen it I have often, though once a year only do these 

 fortunate occasions present themselves. They are chiefly familiar to the eye of the 

 observer, not by reason of a show of myriads of little insects, but of untold numbers 

 of large insects, winged and otherwise, which the average Angler never notices as 

 affecting his interests with regard to the Salmon. Were he fishing in the High- 

 lands he would be quite blind to this fact, even in the presence of the extraordinary 

 so called ' Green Kings," which are remarkable for their effect upon the fish, and 

 for their uncommon appearance and enormous size. 



" I particularly remember the year 1848. It was the year in which my Father 

 first sought consolation under distressing circumstances in a ' Milo Cutty ' and in 

 the ' Alexandra fly,' which I introduced at that time just four years after I had 

 killed my first Salmon. To omit all trivial details as regards this fly, I may say that 

 I used to dangle it before the noses of timid Trout, which one clay fed on flies and 

 another on gudgeon and minnows. Could they not tell the difference ? The very 

 idea must be blotted out of our minds. 



" Anyone determined to see for himself what a fly looks like by inspecting it 

 from the bed of the river (which I have frequently done myself) would soon dis- 

 tinguish, not only the natural ' play ' of the legs and wings, but also the great 

 attractions of the hairy filaments with which the body is covered. Put a fly whose 

 body is made of Peacock's herl into a tumbler of water and you may see much the 

 same sort of thing. It looks no more like a gudgeon or a minnow than a cabbage, 

 if I may so boldly give an opinion. 



" I remember imitating black beetles' legs with single herls fixed to a cork 

 body, which had been varnished black for a particularly sheltered spot on the 

 upper part of the Darenth, and getting the largest Trout with this make-believe. 

 The fish would not look at the ' monster ' before the season for black beetles com- 

 menced, when, of course, they took it for the natural insect, as all Trout-anglers 

 must surely believe. The large fish had no doubt fed on these beetles for years. 



" Can any individual imagine that the firmly-rooted, passionate fondness, 

 which, in infancy, Salmon show for living flies, does not remain liable on some 

 provocation (peculiar to the district) in after life again to spring up as strong as 

 ever ? I venture to submit evidence of this recurrence in a number of cases, not 

 as regards the once-favoured Alders, ]\! arch-browns, Midges, and Gnats, but more 

 in direction of insects which are as showy and as conspicuous to the fish as 'Jock 

 Scott ' itself. Space prohibits me from giving many instances, but it is within the 

 domain of possibility to be mistaken on the river Spey. See the care, see the pre- 

 cision of even the most famous of the local Fishermen in copying the exact colour 



