30 THE WAY OF A TROUT WITH A FLY 



and not necessarily because of the blue in it. Indeed, the 

 base colour of the iron blue, as disclosed in its spinners, 

 is a shade of red as exemplified in the claret spinner and the 

 Jenny spinner. The wings of duns, standing up in the air 

 or seen spread out spent on the water, are generally very 

 colourless, and it is known that many anglers fish hackled 

 flies habitually in preference to winged flies. 



It would not perhaps be the worst guess that could be 

 made if one were to hazard that blue was the colour to which 

 trout are least sensitive. 



It is the colour of sky and cloud, the background against 

 which they see their surface food. 



The reference to a neutral grey recalls a greenheart rod of 

 mine made by Farlow and painted heron-blue, and its extra- 

 ordinary invisibility to the trout. Again and again I have 

 held it over a trout lying under my bank, and have waved 

 it to and fro without scaring him until I showed myself, and 

 it certainly seemed as if it were of a colour to which the 

 trout was almost insensible. I remember speculating at 

 the time whether it was by reason of his scheme of colora- 

 tion that the heron was able to get within striking distance 

 of the fish. I afterwards had a split-cane Test rod built by 

 Messrs. Hardy Brothers, and I got them to colour it 

 similarly, but the varnish put a flash upon it which dis- 

 counted its invisibility, and that and the fact that the 

 colouring matter under or in the varnish added not a little 

 to the weight of the rod led to my discontinuing the use of 

 heron-blue colouring for my rods. 



