FLIES AND FLY-DRESSING 191 



turns out to be a two -pound chub. We 

 must remember, too, that the Breton 

 peasant, though an expert fisherman on 

 his own hues, is not a " dry-fly man." 

 His ideas on the use even of the wet-fly 

 are conservative, and he can be of little 

 help to us in its selection. 



The Breton trout has undoubtedly a 

 preference for dark flies, sparsely dressed ; 

 and as a rule, he is confronted with far too 

 light and bulky a pattern. From personal 

 experience I have always found that a 

 hackle suits him better than a winged fly, 

 and that he fancies a warm tone rather than 

 a cold one. It may be that the average 

 Breton stream is warm in colour, or rather, 

 it flows over gravel-beds, rocks, and sand, 

 which are aU warm in tone. This colour 

 tone would naturally react on any floating 

 object above, so it must follow that the 

 natural fly, being very receptive to colour 

 refraction (that is, less dull and more 

 reflectant in surface than the most lifelike 

 imitation), would assimilate an undue 

 proportion of the surrounding colour. Of 

 course, all fishermen are faddists, and this 

 theory is only put forward very tentatively 



