OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
PART I
DRY FLIES
CHAPTER I
Introductory
Though it would not be true to say that hitherto writers on fly-dressing have shown any lack of power of observation, still it is unfortunately true that their energy seems, strangely enough, to have stopped short at observing the natural fly, and has not been sufficient to carry them on to making even passable imitations, except of Ephemeridæ. With the exception of this family of flies, no one could possibly recognise the artificial through knowing the natural fly which it is supposed to represent. Yet the fisherman who knows the natural fly well by sight will go on using these imitations year after year unquestioningly; and though he himself would certainly not have known, unless he had been told, what natural fly the imitation he is using is meant to represent, he expects the trout to do so at once.
There has been much discussion recently as to whether trout have the power of discriminating between different colours, but no one has ever cast a doubt on their power of discriminating between different shapes; yet in most of these imitations it is not the colour that is wrong, but the shape. The wings of a fly undoubtedly play a most important part in forming the outline, and consequently the general appearance of the fly. Therefore, if they are not put in the natural position, the whole contour of the imitation must be entirely different from that of the natural fly.