82 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. 



go flogging the water with such flies, how 

 they can expect to rise a fish is, and always has 

 been a wonder to me, and how they ever do 

 take a trout is still a greater marvel. I think 

 if some of our practical fly fishers were only to 

 see the collection of French flies I have by me, 

 they would never forget them, and I believe 

 the British Museum would give a handsome 

 sum to place them amongst their modern 

 curiosities. 



A year or so ago I bought a splendid card of 

 six flies, which to lure the purchasers had these 

 words printed on the top : " Mouches, et arran- 

 geespour carpes et truites (flies arranged for trout 

 and carp /). I thought some of my friends would 

 have died with laughter when I showed them 

 to them. Fancy whipping a pond with a large 

 brilliant scarlet fly with a black body for carp t 

 Well, Frenchmen may manage to rise a carp 

 with such a fly, but I never did, or with any 

 other, and I must honestly confess, I have not 

 yet been tempted to try. 



But to return if the angler^ fishes a small 

 stream such as I have mentioned, he has a good 

 chance of making a tolerable basket, but he 



