FLY DRESSING AS AN ART 75 



sentation of that fly. For instance, on the Coquet one 

 afternoon, seeing that there was a heavy fall of small 

 spinners, I put on a solitary fly which I had dressed the 

 previous day to imitate the same spinner, and I caught 

 no less than eight-and-thirty trout with it, while a much 

 more experienced rough-water fisherman, fishing with me 

 on the other side of the same water and using three or four 

 flies, one of them a wool-bodied Red spinner, but not true 

 to shade, took three trout only. I am therefore convinced 

 that what I call " appropriate representation " rather than 

 exact imitation is seldom thrown away. 



Every rule has its exception, and the exception is the 

 occasion when the hatch or fall of natural fly is so copious 

 that unless your fly has the luck to fall so near to the trout 

 as to be the absolute next to be taken it is in competition 

 with too many natural flies to invite selection. On such 

 an occasion there should be something special about your 

 fly to attract the trout's attention from the stream of 

 natural insects. 



II 



FLY DRESSING AS AN ART 



I imagine that no art has ever been learned from books ; 

 fly dressing is no exception. As a mere mechanical art it can 

 be learned in the workshop or at the fly-dressing table. 

 There, from teaching and example, the student may acquire 

 with practice a certain knack and deftness. But when 

 he has acquired these it is far too soon to imagine himself 

 a master of the art. 



Many writers have attempted to teach it in their books 

 by verbal description and by illustration, but apart from 

 the fact that most of them leave unexplained a whole series 



