THE FLY 37 



My own experience tends to confirm that of my 

 fellow-countrymen. Like them I have found, or 

 (since in matters of angling it is wise to speak with 

 diffidence) fancy that I have found, that when the 

 trout is disinclined for food the most seductive-looking 

 lure is passed over him in vain, but that when absti- 

 nence has given an edge to his appetite the angler 

 may offer him anything — in reason — he pleases, satis- 

 fied that it will not be refused. Once only have the 

 trout seemed to me to show a decided preference for a 

 particular fly, and on that occasion their choice was a 

 small Red Hackle. With that lure I had, during the 

 morning, secured a modest success, but , 



sport was quiet until mid-day when the trout 

 began to rise languidly and in small num- 

 bers to a little ephemera, a fly much too 

 delicately beautiful for imitation. Willing, 

 however, to meet what seemed their wishes, 

 I mounted a Greenwell's Glory, the closest 

 approach to the object of their attention I possessed, 

 but they would have none of it ; they ignored it 

 entirely, and continued to display an unabated affec- 

 tion for the hackle, unlike though it was to the fly 

 that was "up." 



The incident lends some support to the assertion 



