THE ANGLER AND HIS LURES 14 



vinced upon one point — viz. that the attractioi 

 of the salmon fly lies in the "flash." No on 

 can realise the amount of "flash" fron 

 standard patterns until they have seen a " Joel 

 Scott," a "Gordon," or a "Doctor" fishe« 

 past them under the water. Colour is, I an 

 sure, an unimportant factor in rendering th 

 salmon fly attractive. 



As an experiment, I should like to see th 

 following tried : use a salmon fly of a standar< 

 shape tied in six sizes, and each size in thre< 

 patterns, the .same material to be used in eacl 

 pattern, but varied solely from the point o: 

 more or less light-reflecting power. My brothe 

 and I tried this system with wet trout flies, but 

 unfortunately, the war cut our experiment 

 short. 



With our present patterns of flies, chang 

 ing from one kind to another of exactly the sam< 

 size .will often result in killing fish; but thesi 

 changes, when successful, are almost invariable 

 from a quieter to a more gaudy pattern, or th< 

 reverse. A glance at a box of salmon flies wil 

 show what a change to a more gaudy patten 

 means — more tinsel on the body, often whifa 

 eyes on a junglecock wing, and topping tag an< 



