INTRODUCTORY. 19 



on the move there. When they are so feeding, there is no 

 food upon the surface, and their eyes are intent upon the 

 bottom. At such times they rarely take an artificial fly 

 well. The writer saw a handsome dish of trout taken in a 

 northern river by an angler who fished caddis-baits using 

 two on a number 3 hook and cast up stream, as you 

 would fish a creeper. 



In one important matter the fancy of Yorkshire anglers, 

 and indeed of anglers all over the north of England, has 

 undergone a change during the past twenty-five years. It 

 is now conceded that a fly dressed hacklewise is generally 

 to be preferred to a winged imitation. The reasons for this 

 are not far to seek and are satisfactory. It is far more 

 difficult to imitate a perfect insect and to afterwards impart 

 to it a semblance of life in or on the water, than it is to 

 produce something which is sufficiently near a resemblance 

 of an imperfectly developed insect, struggling to attain 

 the surface of the stream. Trout undoubtedly take a 

 hackled fly for the insect just rising from the pupa in a 

 half-drowned state ; and the opening and closing of the 

 fibres of the feathers give it an appearance of vitality, 

 which even the most dexterous fly-fisher will fail to impart 

 to the winged imitation. Moreover, trout are not accus- 

 tomed to see perfect winged flies underneath the surface of 

 the water ; a drowned fly always looks drowned, and though 

 hungry trout will sometimes take a winged fly very well, it 

 will generally be found that the hackled flies account for 

 the largest number of fish. Perhaps too much attention is 

 commonly given to the wings of artificial flies, and too 

 little to the bodies. These remarks it must be understood 

 are written mainly of our Yorkshire and other north country 

 rivers which abound in rippling streams and rough broken 

 water. In the clear, smooth, gliding waters of the chalk 

 streams of Hampshire and a few other counties, the case is 



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