PROPER FLIES FOR EACH SEASON. 73 



the size and shape of an insect. And it is only in shy 

 waters, and in unfavourable weather for the sport, and 

 where the fish are coy and difficult to take, that the 

 superiority of the accomplished fisher over the ignorant 

 pretender is fairly exhibited. 



Many accomplished anglers, and authors as well, 

 are under the impression that on every river, certain 

 peculiar flies will be more alluring to trout all the season 

 through, than any others that can be offered them. And 

 this mistaken notion is most prevalent with southern 

 sportsmen, where the rivers are ill adapted to fly-fishing, 

 and where that mode of fishing is but seldom followed 

 and little understood. As a case in point ; in " Fly- 

 fishing by Ephemera," not one of the flies in his list, 

 with but one solitary exception, the dark dun, has the 

 slightest resemblance to any aquatic insect that God 

 ever created ; nor in the clear oft-fished waters of the 

 North, would they have ever an ephemeral chance of 

 filling a basket at any season of the year. My own 

 opinion, derived from long experience and a close atten- 

 tion to the matter, most decidedly compels me to arrive 

 at the conclusion, that unless the artificial flies resemble 

 as closely their natural prototypes frequenting the 

 waters at the season fished in as the art of the dresser 

 can make them, the angler may as well remain at home, 

 and whip for imaginary whales in his wash-hand basin. 



Some sportsmen, however, argue that trout will seize 

 with avidity anything having resemblance to an insect 

 moving through the water, regardless of its shape or 

 colour : and that the artificial representative of one fly 



