80 THE WAY OF A TROUT WITH A FLY 



transparent and lets through, while it darkens and accen- 

 tuates, the olive colouring of the waxed silk with which 

 the fly is tied, and the tumbled hackle from the waterhen 

 (moorhen) suggests the tumbled, dilapidated state in which 

 a fly whose wings have been caught by the current might 

 be whirled down-stream in such waters. If used as a 

 dropper, fished upstream and across, this type of pattern 

 with its mobile wings may well constitute an effective 

 suggestion of a fly struggling with its difficulties upon the 

 surface. All the Yorkshire and North of England patterns 

 seem to be dressed upon this theory. Both these types 

 of fly are meant to be fished upstream, or up and across. 

 Fig. 3 is a dressing from the Usk. The Usk is a broad, 

 solid river, where, I imagine, the bulk of the fishing is to 

 be done by casting across stream. Here the theory appears 

 to be that the artificial fly is a sketch. Note the slight 

 shred of wing, the slim body, the slight but active hackle. 

 Fig. 4 is a dressing of the fly intended to be fished down- 

 stream, or rather across and down, in such solid streams 

 as the Teme. It has, therefore, what is described as a 

 good entry; that is to say, a shape which is calculated 

 to create the least unnatural disturbance through its 

 breasting the current or swinging across it. It is to stand 

 hard wear, so the wings are rolled into a single solid pad. 



Fig. 5 is a single-winged pattern — i.e., a pattern dressed 

 with only one thickness of wing fibre to represent each 

 wing of the natural fly 1 — and in a variety of quality it is 

 perhaps the commonest and least rational of all the types 

 of fly dressing. Fig. 6 is a Devonshire pattern, dressed with 

 sharp, bright, dancing hackles, probably intended to suggest 

 a struggling nymph rather than the hatched winged fly. 



Fig. 7 is a rolled-winged pattern with upright wings 

 akin to the Greenwell's Glory. It is one of the few winged 

 patterns of the Northern English counties and the South 



