STREAMCRAFT 



insect is on the water. But for the sophisticated 

 or "educated" trout of our much-fished Eastern 

 streams, it is necessary for consistently successful 

 angling with the artificial fly to imitate the natural 

 nearly as may be possible, and to give this imita- 

 tion to the trout in a very neat and clever way. 



The opinion of Mr. H. B. Christian, whom we 

 already have quoted, is likewise pertinent here. 

 "Some mistakenly think that if they have big, 

 fat, showy flies, and still better, three or four 

 of these tied to one cast, that is what will catch 

 the fish. The angler with this theory may either 

 leave off fishing and may say there are no fish 

 in the stream, or he will change his ways and 

 go at it in the right way, and use nice slim- 

 bodied flies neatly tied, and a fine leader, and have 

 success. Most natural flies have slim bodies and 

 only six legs; some insects have eight and per- 

 haps ten, but that is about the limit. So don't 

 use flies with about five hundred all in a bunch. 

 To be sure we must have enough hackle to 

 float the fly, but a few turns of hackle of the 

 proper size makes plenty of legs." 



The Englishman David Foster, author of the 

 Scientific Angler, had some definite ideas upon 

 our subject, and years ago made interesting 

 original observations, based on a half-century's 

 experience, that have largely been confirmed by 

 subsequent authorities. He held that there are 

 two main varieties of flies furnishing fish food, 

 138 



