THE "RIGHT" FLY 157 



duly, if absurdly, named. Thus we have 

 "Doctors," "Butchers," "Rangers," "Snow 

 flies," etc. 



Who, indeed, ever heard of a Snow fly ! 

 Surely not the salmon, nor did he ever see the 

 ghost of one until some cunning angler first 

 presented to his notice a bunch of bright 

 coloured feathers tied to the silver-gleaming 

 shank of a hook. 



The generaUty of salmon anglers are greatly 

 exercised in their minds regarding the " right" 

 fly to use before proceeding to business, and 

 much precious time is often wasted whilst 

 selecting it. The state of the water, weather 

 conditions, the size of the fly and, last but not 

 least, the local type of fly must be considered. 

 For instance, a Dee fly is regarded as perfectly 

 useless in the case of salmon inhabiting the 

 Blackwater (County Cork), and vice versa ; a 

 " Lemon-ended-grey " would be deemed en- 

 tirely out of its element on the Dee. In fact, 

 each river appears to have evolved a special 

 " breed " of fly, adapted to the locality, but 

 useless elsewhere. Seeing that not one of these 

 " fancies " represents anything on earth, the 

 matter might be described as " one of those 

 things no fellah can understand." And the 

 most amazing part of it is that there should be 

 exceptions. However, exceptions there are ; 



