THE FISHERY. 



SOI 



For myself, I use only one fly at a time on the Wandle. As a rule, a 

 fly called a coachman (fig. i loo. No. 5) generally kills : it has white 

 wings, and the size should be proportionate to the light, smaller flies 

 being used in sunshine, larger in 

 twilight, and at dusk a very 

 large coachman may be tried. 



Sometimes a fly the oppo- 3 

 site of this, with dark blue 

 wings, is good ; but there is 

 a particular time in June when 

 the natural fly floats down the 

 water, and then it is necessary 

 that the artificial fly should do 

 the same, if the fisherman de- . 

 sire fish. At all other times 

 the artificial fly may float 

 down the river a few inches 

 below the surface. 



There are times, however, when fish will not feed, and nothing can 

 induce them to feed, and this applies to all fresh-water fish, and also, 

 as far as my limited experience goes, to salt-water fish. When there 

 is no difference in the water itself, the desire for food by fish, as far 

 as I can judge, depends upon the qualities of the light ; and trout, 

 jack, perch, chub, roach, and other fish, are amenable to its influence. 



The condition of the water is always important, but this does not 

 so much aff-ect the Upper Wandle, which requires very heavy rain to 

 discolour it at all. In other rivers the brightness in the colour of the 

 water is of primary importance to the angler. 



Fig. ijoo.— Flies : i, Quill Gnat ; 2, Black Gnat ; 3, Car" 

 shalton Cocktail ; 4, Emperor ; 5, Coachman ; 6, Coch-y 

 bonddhu. 



"Now, when the first foul torrent of the brooks, 

 Swell'd with the vernal rains, is ebb'd away— 

 And, whitening, down their mossy-tinctur'd stream 

 Descends the billowy foam— now is the time, 

 While yet the dark brown water aids the guile, 

 To tempt the trout."— THOMSON'S Seasons. 



