SALMON-FISHING 259 



One heretic Erne fisherman whom I know always fished 

 with his own flies, that in size and pattern violated 

 all local traditions ; but he killed his fair share of 

 fish, all the same. True, he was a most painstaking 

 fisherman, threw a beautiful line, and, what is more 

 to the point, fished every inch of a throw. But it is 

 not given to everyone to possess a similar strength 

 of mind and confidence in his own judgment. Per- 

 sonally, I always like to fall in with local ideas as 

 regards pattern and size of fly, for they represent the 

 accumulated wisdom of ages. When a pool is fished 

 blank, one always is inclined to think that another fly 

 would have done better. On the other hand, when 

 a fish is hooked, confidence in the particular fly is at 

 once established ^ but who is to say with certainty 

 that another pattern or size of fly would not have 

 achieved the same result ? 



On one occasion the heretic angler above mentioned 

 took two fine fish with strange flies off the south side 

 of the ' Bank of Ireland ' throw on the Erne, just 

 behind an old habitue, who had fished the same throw 

 blank from the north side with stock local patterns. 

 The river was dead low, and both had fished the same 

 water from opposite banks. Some might have argued 

 from this incident that the new flies were better than 

 the old ; but, as a matter of fact, in low water that 

 particular throw always fishes better from the south 

 side than the north. Probably the position of the fish, 

 the lie of the rocks, and the way the fly came over 

 them, all helped to decide the result. 



But whatever the immediate result may be, no 

 salmon-angler can fish Erne water without pleasure, 

 for it is a summer river yielding best sport when days 

 are long and grass and foliage are green. It runs 



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