FLIES. 75 



have almost invariably found they were as killing 

 as their predecessors. Other causes also operate. 

 The thread of gut on which the fly is dressed is of 

 more importance than the fly itself ; and those pro- 

 fessional anglers who haunt most southern streams, 

 and whose " fail-me-never" is the only fly suitable 

 for the water because they expect to be well paid 

 for it take care to have their flies dressed on fine 

 gut. 



Such a difference does the gut make, that if 

 an angler will take two threads of gut of the same 

 thickness, but one of a glossy white colour, and the 

 other clear and transparent, and dress two flies upon 

 them exactly alike, the fly dressed on the clear gut 

 will kill two trout for one which the fly dressed on 

 the white gut will. The shape of the fly will also 

 make a great difference, and really practical anglers, 

 such as all those who make their living by it are, 

 do not put a third of the feathers on their flies that 

 some town-made ones have. 



We have frequently got flies, which, we were 

 assured, were exact imitations of some fly on the 

 water at the time, and which the donors were cer- 

 tain would kill more trout than any other, but on 

 trying them we did not find them so deadly as those 

 we were using ; and they killed quite as well, and 

 sometimes better, two months before the natural fly 

 came on the water, or two months after it was gone. 

 We think it just possible that when a large fly, 

 such as the green drake, remains a long time on the 



