193 



occurrence, and short duration ; ordinarily the willful 

 creature must be beguiled and tempted in the most subtle 

 manner to be won, and the less visible the " entangling 

 alliances " about the line, the more probable the success. 

 Ninety-nine flies in a hundred, dressed in the shops, are 

 tied on gut nearly twice as stout as it should be ; but the 

 dealers, as an excuse, say they cannot sell them other- 

 wise. It is to meet this assertion that we have dwelt so 

 long and earnestly on the advisability of casting fine, 

 lines over fine waters. We have hundreds of trout in 

 our ponds that were taken with a fly, and they know the 

 fish rod for years. If you hold a rod over the pond they 

 are out of sight as soon as they can find a place to hide. 



Flies. — This is a subject of infinite variety. We 

 scarcely know where to begin, nor how much to say. 

 ^Ve would advise every angler to learn to tie his own 

 flies — not that he will or should always do so, because it 

 would often be an inexcusable waste of time — but in order 

 that he may be able to thoroughly know a good fly when 

 he sees one. The only perfect critic of a picture is a 

 man who can paint, so the only correct judge of a fly is 

 one who has made them. The art of fly tying is by no 

 means difficult ; there is not the same labor expended in 

 the operation that there was formerly. The wings are 

 rarely reversed, and good varnish makes up for defects 

 in finish. The best and shortest way to learn the modus 

 operandi is by taking lessons from a friend, or a profes- 

 sional. A half dozen lessons, with some practice, will 

 teach all the essentials. 



The fly-tyer needs a few utensils — such as spring-pliers, 

 bench vise, mohair, floss silk, gold and silver tinsel, var- 

 nish, hooks, sewing silk, and feathers of many kinds, 

 especially the hackles from cocks' necks. The feathers 

 may be wrapped in paper ; even put into open envelopes, 



