20 NORTH-COUNTRY FLIES. 



different. There, fly-fishing as an art is perhaps at its 

 greatest perfection, and to deceive the wary two or three 

 or four pound trout which abound, say, in the Test, all the 

 skill which the angler can bring to bear is required, and to 

 accomplish this, it is often necessary to fish what is called 

 the " dry " fly. In this the angler pins his faith on a single 

 fly, a winged one, which he throws up stream over a rising 

 fish, and so manipulates it as to bring it floating down the 

 river with upright wings like a living fly. The hackled fly 

 fished on such rivers would, of course, be out of place ; and 

 whilst strongly leaning to hackles for our own rivers, there 

 are times in big, bold waters, and when fishing imitations 

 of large flies, when winged flies will sometimes kill quite as 

 well as hackled, or spider-flies. One other point. Within 

 reasonable limits, the flies for Yorkshire rivers, and for 

 most other rivers of equal size, for as the size of your 

 river increases so, to a small extent, must your flies can- 

 not well be dressed too sparingly in the matter of feather. 

 It stands to sense that to a creature with such wonderful 

 vision as a trout it is better to err in offering a deception 

 rather too small than too large. Do not make the mistake, 

 though, of fishing hooks which are too small, or you will 

 fail to strike your fish. You will find it worth while to 

 examine your hooks every time you touch a fish and miss 

 him. The point of a fish-hook is probably more liable to 

 go than any other kind of steel, because the hooks are all 

 pointed before they are hardened. You may remedy an 

 accident of this kind with a bit of Arkansas whetstone, 

 which you can get from any watch-maker and carry in your 

 waistcoat pocket. 



It will be noticed that several flies commonly fished on 

 English rivers, notably the May-flies the green and grey 

 drakes, the alder-fly and one or two others, are not in- 

 cluded in this work. The beautiful insect known as the 



