120 TROUT FISHING 



to times when the creatures they imitate 

 are dead or still unborn ? 



As suggested in an earlier chapter, we 

 accept them on the understanding that, 

 although the real flies are not to be seen 

 on the day of our fishing, they would be 

 visible if the weather were more propiti- 

 ous. Resembling a famous golfer. Spring 

 never plays up to her average ; but there 

 really is an average if only we take into 

 account a sufficiency of years. For ex- 

 ample, among the flies for the opening 

 month of the season are the March 

 Brown, the Woodcock and Hare's-Ear, 

 the February Red, and the Black and 

 Blae. It may be that some fisherman 

 of long ago found on the water flies 

 which those lures resembled, and there- 

 upon established a tradition which has 

 come down from age to age. 



An alternative theory is that at the 

 beginning of spring, when flies are very 

 scarce, the trout, being hungry, rise at 

 anything that seems to be a fly at all, 

 without curiosity as to which of the 



