150 WHY DO THE FISH RISE? 



for wings, and a few thickish dark legs. Then there is 

 the Yellow Sally, so much and so unjustly abused as a 

 " bitter fly and one rejected by the fish." This is an 

 entire fallacy ; a properly dressed imitation is one of our 

 most prized and useful flies in its season. Again avoid 

 the bulky bushy patterns, and remember the Sally is a 

 pale delicate insect, and to be successful the imitation 

 must be fine in form and be dressed with delicate glassy 

 hackles both for wings and legs, and the trouble of 

 obtaining the materials and making up is amply 

 repaid : at least, that is the result of over 25 years' 

 experience of its use. 



There is another class of insects, some two hundred 

 and fifty strong, in these islands — the Trichoptera, or 

 Caddis Flies .; their imitations will often turn a disastrous 

 day into one of glorious success. There are certain 

 small ones with bronzy wings and reddish bodies, 

 which run about on the surface of the water very 

 quickly, and at times hatch by thousands. Dressed 

 fine, but with long trailing legs, not too numerous, 

 these will do execution on hard-fished waters when all 

 the orthodox patterns fail — but they must be dressed 

 small and fine. My experience of heavy bushy flies 

 is that on preserved waters they do well enough, but 

 given conditions not too favourable, and hard fished 

 waters, and the best way to treat them is to take out 

 a pair of scissors and cut off two-thirds of the dressing, 

 and at times they do better with five-sixths removed. 

 This may seem to be rank heresy, but it is the result of 

 actual experience, and success has been achieved by 

 adopting this method when the fish absolutely refused 



