FLIES AND FLY-DRESSING 199 



pattern." Indeed, if more of us realised 

 how easy it is to make a fly that will catch 

 fish, we should get much more fun out of 

 our fishing. 



There is something about the self-tied 

 fly that tickles a man's vanity, and so puts 

 him in the best of good humours ; and 

 always there is something fresh for him to 

 discover and experiment with. He begins 

 to find interest, not only in the habits 

 of the fish, but in those of the insects 

 on which they feed. A certain knowledge 

 of river entomology is necessary to all 

 those who would follow the higher branches 

 of the angler's art, and the further we 

 advance the more shall we find it necessary 

 to discard certain shop patterns if we 

 would express our own individual ideas in 

 the rendering of the natural fly. 



There are occasions on which water-side 

 fly-tying becomes a necessity ; times when 

 the fish are only taking a particular fly. 

 We have nothing resembling this fly in 

 our case, so the one thing to be done is 

 to sit down, there and then, and copy the 

 natural insect as best we can. Again, 

 there must often be idle hours during 



