140 LIST OF FLIES AND WHEN THEY APPEAR. 



dead failure! " "Ah," we remarked, "that is unfortunate! " 

 — " Yes," he continued, " I tried everything I could 

 think of without success, then I looked at my book and 

 saw your ' Prismatic ' and said to myself this really is 

 a fly and will do the trick, but could not stir a fin with 

 it, it was an entire failure." Further questioning elicited 

 the fact that at the time the river was rising rapidly, 

 it was blowing a gale, and raining cats and dogs ! 

 Yet surprise and indignation are expressed because 

 a fly specially designed and specifically recommended 

 for bright weather and fine conditions fails to charm 

 in impossible conditions. The safest advice to give is : 

 at any particular season certain flies are usually on the 

 water look out for them, and if the fish are observed 

 taking them, use the nearest imitation you have. This 

 book was not written to provide anglers with infallible 

 formulae but rather to stimulate and encourage them 

 to observe for themselves what flies are moving and 

 help them to determine how a useful imitation may 

 be constructed of a few typical specimens met with 

 at the waterside. 



On seldom fished waters almost any reasonably 

 typical fly of the right size — small for thin waters and 

 medium for deeper ones, will command a measure of 

 success. In hard fished waters where trout are 

 continually pricked and lost, the amateur fly tier will 

 frequently achieve success by tying an uncommon 

 or it may be a local fly the imitation of which has not 

 been presented to the fish before or with such frequency 

 as the common patterns. For such I append the 



