214 



A SCOTTISH FLY-FISHER 



ance of life and imparts to it a greater fascination. 

 There is a reasonableness about the belief that com- 

 mends it to one's acceptance, but whether in actual 

 practice the working of the fly favourably affects the 

 angler's basket is by no means certain ; I have never 

 been able to persuade myself that it increased the 

 weight of mine. Stewart, one of the most successful 

 of wet-fly fishers, advocates the use of a soft hackle in 

 the dressing of the lure, because, he says, "the water 

 agitates the feathers and gives them a more life-like 

 appearance," but, as he also declares that the trout take 

 the artificial for a dead fly or a fly helplessly caught in 

 the stream, and that therefore it is absurd of the angler 

 to attempt by any motion of his hand to impart to his 

 lures the aspect of vitality, his opinions, like the gods, 

 are hard to reconcile. 



.'VK&--/f{';;: ^'' 







