CHOICE OF FLIES. 113 



Revelling in beautiful scenes, he is susceptible of the in- 

 fluence of the weather, for when the storm rages he refuses 

 to bite at even his most favourite food. 



But what is the favourite food of the trout ] On this 

 subject anglers cannot agree. The taste of the fish varies. 

 He is hungry or the reverse, and from the experience of 

 to-day and to-morrow various theories have been pro- 

 pounded, and learned discussions inaugun ted, which only 

 serve to perplex the inexperienced and to amuse the expert 

 angler. There are as many different sorts of flies recom- 

 mended as there are days in the year. Nay, there are some 

 who use one fly in the early morning, another in the fore- 

 noon, a third during the heat of the day, and a fourth in 

 the evening. The young angler may indulge these fancies 

 when he has plenty of time to spare, and has profited by 

 the result of my experience and of those who have kindly 

 advised me in this disputed portion of our work. 



Those flies will be found to be the best which approach 

 in shape nearest the common flies of the streams on which 

 you are fishing. The colour is not so important as the 

 shape, if they are not too large and clumsy. The finest 

 and best will be useless if the fish are not on the feed. 



I cannot here enter into an elaborate defence of these 

 propositions, which I hold to be truthful and likely to com- 

 mand the adherence of a large body of expert brethren of 

 the craft. I lay them down for the guidance of those who 

 have to acquire experience, so that they may not be misled 

 into continually changing their flies, and wasting their time 

 whenever they are not meeting with the success they feel 

 they deserve. In a succeeding chapter I have given full 

 and explicit directions concerning the flies, and here I 

 need say no more than, as a rule, a dark coloured fly is best 



