68 OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES 



fly, it is worth while trying to imitate 

 them on the smallest hook made. This 

 is an 000, with a short shank. As it is 

 extremely difficult to put wings on these 

 flies, hackle patterns may be tried, but 

 the winged patterns are the best. 



Once, when out fishing, I had a very 

 aggravating experience with some tiny 

 Curses. I had been fishing all the morn- 

 ing and had caught nothing. At about 

 two o'clock I saw several good fish rising, 

 but they would not look at my fly. I 

 observed a fair number of light Olive 

 Duns on the water, but both the imitation 

 of this fly and several fancy patterns I 

 tried proved equally useless. 



At last I seated myself on a fence close 

 to a clump of willows, lighted a pipe, and 

 began watching a fish which was rising a 

 few yards higher up, not far from the bank 

 on my side of the river. The water was 

 perfectly clear, and when the fish rose I 

 could see him distinctly. He was a 

 grayling of between half and three- 

 quarters of a pound, and rose four or five 

 times in the minute. There were a lot of 

 Smuts on the water, which from where I 



