CHAPTER XVII. 



THE CHOICE OF A FLY. 



The great question which recurs at every fishing- 

 expedition is ''what 11 y is most likely to command 

 success ? " The answer to this question depends on a 

 great variety of circumstances, and an intelligent con- 

 sideration of these will well repay the trouble. 



Hroadly speaking, we may divide Mies into two TYPES. 

 classes, viz., " attractors " and "deceivers," with the 

 reservation that an attractor must be a deceiver and a 

 deceiver, attractive. 



If the water is large, or in ilood ; or the weather "ATTRAC- 

 boisterous; or the fish not rising; a fly much larger 

 than the natural, or with an extra touch of colour or 

 tinsel about it, will frequently prove more successful 

 than a smaller imitation, which is really a more faithful 

 copy of a natural insect. 



This is what we should term an " attractor," and 

 when the conditions are not favourable for fine fishing, 

 the use of such a fly is often successful. 



If, on the other hand, the waters are fine, or the " DECEI- 

 fish dimpling the surface, on the look out for insects, 

 the smallest fly alighting on the surface is seen by 

 them, and the artificial must be a " deceiver" to render 

 good service, that is, must be a good imitation of an 

 individual species, or sufficiently typical to be at once 

 mistaken for some fly or larva on which the fish are 



feeding. 



123 



