SOME FLY DRESSING 115 



tying silk through the hackle to the head, and finish with 

 the whip finish. A touch of celluloid varnish on the whip 

 finish makes all secure. Then the root of the hackle is cut 

 off with a sharp knife, and the fly is complete. 



Thus tied it has an astonishing amount of wear in it, 

 and cocks most beautifully. I remember a day on the 

 Chess when I took fifteen trout with one fly of this pattern, 

 and then gave it to my host, who used it for several days 

 afterwards with success. 



It is a pattern which I have found successful from May to 

 the end of the season under a variety of conditions, but 

 only when the up-winged dun was not present in quantity. 



For instance, it is a nailer for the trout of cross-ditches 

 and drains, however narrow. It is also very attractive to 

 the banker that remains in position after the morning 

 rise is over. And often one may go on securing trout with 

 it all the afternoon and up to the edge of the evening rise, 

 especially in places where the sedges weep over the water. 



But there is one set of conditions in which I have found 

 this pattern specially deadly. Sometimes in places where 

 the weeds grow near the surface one may see a movement 

 where the nose of the trout does not seem to break the 

 water, but the back fin and the tail successively show. 

 Just precisely what the fish is doing must be a matter of 

 surmise. I am inclined to think he has dislodged some 

 rather inert nymph from the weed and takes him just 

 below the surface. If you get your Red Sedge to a trout 

 feeding thus, and do not scare him, the odds are long 

 that you get him, and that he will be a good one. 



5. PHEASANT TAIL. 



I have more than once seen propounded an inquiry to 

 which I have seen no reply — viz., what fly the Pheasant 

 tail is supposed to represent. Well, I can answer that ques- 



