THE FLY 83 



that will take the artificial fly at all, the presence or 

 absence of wings must be a matter of supreme indiffer- 

 ence. Many things contribute to the filling of the creel 

 besides the fly ; it cannot be dispensed with, but it is 

 by no means the most important factor in the fisher- 

 man's results. I have fished within a few yards of a 

 friend who, although his flies were exactly the same 

 as my own, took trout after trout, while I scarcely 

 obtained a rise. 



Stewart gave to the hackle, as a means of capturing 

 trout, a higher rank than that accorded to the winged 

 fly, and Mr. E. M. Tod, in Wet-Fly Fishing, says of 

 it that it is proverbially valuable for the fishing of 

 " waters." Why it should prove a more profitable lure 

 on a " water " than on a " river," or a " burn," Mr. Tod 

 does not inform us, and he has probably an excellent 

 reason for his reticence. The insect or the spider 

 which the hackle may be supposed to represent is surely 

 not confined to streams of a particular size, and since 

 the distinctive feature of a " water " is not the posses- 

 sion of a characteristic fauna, we can hardly believe 

 that the trout it holds have developed a peculiar palate. 



The angler is the least logical of men. He has 

 never heard of Whately, and opinions aired on one 

 page, we find him flatly contradicting on the next. 



