STYLES OF FLY DRESSING 79 



IV 



STYLES OF FLY DRESSING 



The angler who has fished with the fly in different parts 

 of the country cannot fail to have noted the extraordinarily 

 differing ways in which the same natural fly is imitated, 

 represented, or suggested in different parts of the country 

 and for different rivers and streams. 



As nothing of any permanence is without reason, it must 

 be inferred that these differences correspond to differences 

 in the conditions under which fly fishing is pursued in 

 streams of different classes. 



In Plate I. I have reproduced a series of patterns of 

 the same fly — the large dark spring olive or blue dun — 

 dressed according to methods prevailing in different parts. 



Fig. 1 represents an attempt at what is styled, for lack 

 of a better term, "exact imitation." It purports to represent 

 the natural fly sitting up cocked on the water in the atti- 

 tude in which it may commonly be seen on the clear chalk 

 streams of the South. It has wings (double dressed) and 

 legs, body and tails; and the colours of the different parts 

 purport to correspond with those of the natural fly. It is 

 fished in conditions in which, by reason of the clearness and 

 slow pace of the water, the trout has time for a good look 

 at the fly ere it takes it. Fig. la is a Derbyshire dressing 

 from the hands of Mr. C. A. Hassam, of the Fly Fishers' 

 Club — than whom no more exquisite artist in trout flies, 

 whether amateur or professional, has ever come within my 

 ken. The wings are single dressed and the whole fly a 

 model of lightness and delicacy. 



Fig. 2 represents the same fly as dressed for the tumbling 

 Yorkshire and North-Country brooks and rivers. It is 

 dressed with a fur body, which, when wet, is remarkably 



