244 Book of the Black Bass. 



orists," or those who think color of paramount importance 

 to form, and " formalists," or " entomologists," who main- 

 tain that form, is every thing, and profess to imitate the 

 natural fly, in its proper season, in every particular of 

 form and tinting. But there is no evidence that one class 

 is more successful than the other, as anglers. On the other 

 hand are the followers of Mr. Pennell's system, or plan, 

 who confine themselves to three "typical" flies — green, 

 brown, and yellow " hackles " — and claim that they are 

 sufficient for all practical purposes, and can be made avail- 

 able for different waters and seasons by increasing or di- 

 minishing the size of the flies, as circumstances seem to 

 demand. While the adherents to this latter theory are 

 fully as successful, from all accounts, as those who have a 

 list of nearly a thousand named flies to choose from, and 

 enjoy the satisfaction of having reduced the perplexing 

 matter to a delightful simplicity, and of obviating the 

 troubles of a repeated changing of the cast of flies as prac- 

 ticed by others, they must sometimes feel a regret deep in 

 their hearts for casting down and sweeping away their 

 idols and cherished traditions, and to a certain extent the 

 poetry of fly-fishing, by their iconoclastic though sensible 

 opinions and practices. 



Where fish are plentiful and in a " biting mood," almost 

 any fly, be it never so rudely tied, and of the least possible 

 resemblance to any thing in the insect creation, veill be 

 successful, even if clumsily cast ; on the contrary, there are 

 times when the best-made flies, cast by the most skillful 

 artists, are necessary to induce a rise. Between these ex- 

 tremes must we look for rules for our general guidance, 

 and without occupying further space with arguments, pro 

 and con, it will be sufficient to say that there are certain 

 general rules which apply to the character of the fly to be 

 used at certain times, and which rules are the result of, and 



