AMERICAN TROUT-STREAM INSECTS 



in wool and feathers, the insect trout take day by 

 day as food. 



I was asked by the author of "Dry Fly in Swift 

 Water" whether I imagined I saw the natural in- 

 sect as the trout sees it? My response was, "Most 

 certainly, when looking at its under body." The 

 fine distinction of transparency is, in my opinion, 

 too far-fetched; and so, too, is whether trout see 

 colors as we do. It seems impossible to conceive 

 that a trout wiU pause to consider if an insect is 

 sweet or sour, bright or dull, large or small. Were 

 I a trout, I would be quick to seize the fat, juicy 

 body of the brown drake, in preference to the hard, 

 small body of the black ant. But, if no drakes 

 were rising, ants would suffice. 



This wiU furnish an example of the wide differ- 

 ence in opinions from the supercritical dry fly ex- 

 ponent to the general fisherman who takes for 

 granted existing conditions as he finds them. 



If the angler will carefully study a page or two 

 of colored commercial flies, he will observe a con- 

 tinued weariness of the same cocked wings spread 

 outward, the same shaped body, all of the same size; 

 the only difference being in the color of wings, 

 body, and hackle. Let them be compared with any 

 one of the monthly plates in this volume — no matter 

 if it be the natural insect or the imitation flies. See 

 how varied nature is, not only in the classes, but in 



16 



