76 EACH FLY PREFERRED IN ITS SEASON. 



his cast an artificial one resembling it in size and colour, 

 when he will probably succeed in filling his creel within 

 an hour or two. 



On the other hand, it is equally certain, that suc- 

 cessive tribes of insects regularly come into existence at 

 certain periods of the season, which the fish feed upon in 

 preference to all others while they last ; or until a new 

 species appears upon the stage. As one tribe completes 

 its allotted work in the great plan of creation and dis- 

 appears, another succeeds ; and as new species appear, 

 the old favourites are neglected. Thus we frequently 

 find the very fly which was taken with avidity in the 

 morning looked upon with the greatest contempt piscine 

 eyes are capable of, when a new belle makes her debut 

 in the afternoon. So fully am I convinced of the truth 

 of this, that I would as soon think of trolling for trout 

 with a dead cat tied to the end of a hayrope, as think of 

 using some of the light summer duns and yellows in 

 March ; or the dark browns and duns of that month in 

 June ; or of offering the blue dun (so killing in April 

 and May), when the air is swarming with the green 

 drake in the height of summer. We may depend upon 

 it, that no artificial fly, unless it closely resembles the 

 natural insect frequenting the waters at the season fished 

 in, will ever ~be successful. 



At the same time it must not be forgotten, that on 

 different rivers in different parts of the country, situated 

 widely apart from each other ; or even in the mountain 

 glens, and lowland valleys of the same district, the 

 tribes of the aquatic insects abroad on the waters will 



