288 SALMON AND TROUT. 



A large alder fly, dressed as described at p. 293, might 

 perhaps be added with advantage to the above list. 



So much for lake flies. 



The flies required for our British rivers and brooks are far 

 more various, and depend for their success on minuter details of 

 colour and material. Nor can any amount of general experience 

 make the fly fisher perfectly at home on a new river, though it 

 will prevent his feeling quite strange. I have killed trout in 

 130 streams (to say nothing of 50 lakes) ; but still, on water 

 which I visited for the first time, I should be glad to take a 

 hint as to the style of fly to be used for the nonce from any in- 

 telligent ' local practitioner.' The man of one stream, like the 

 '■homo unius libri^ is a formidable person within a limited range. 

 On the same principle constant readers of sporting papers 

 may benefit greatly by the recorded experiences of brother 

 anglers on particular rivers. And I would recommend fly 

 fishers, who have sufficient leisure, to * book' accurately not only 

 their captures but a brief record of the flies which on each occa- 

 sion served them best, in order to prevent the results of their 

 own experience from eluding their remembrance. Such a record 

 is not the formidable affair it might appear at first sight. Three 

 minutes at the close of the day will answer every purpose. I 

 have been a working man all my life, and have, I believe, at 

 least an average memory ; yet I do not regret the time which, 

 after every angler's holiday enjoyed during something like half 

 a century, I have given to brief entries such as the following : 



July 5. — Upper Ledditch. Warm day — light S.W. breeze. Red 

 sandfly; orl fly (hackle) and dark coachman. Weight 10^ lbs. 

 Best fish 15 oz. 



By keeping such records one guards against false impres- 

 sions as to the season and the weather when a particular fly 

 did execution on a given stream ; impressions which will often 

 lead us wrong in our choice. 



I shall not attempt any scientific classification of flies. But 

 though I do not pretend to the character of an entomologist, it 

 may be useful to beginners to remark that there are two great 



