A black fly ribbed with silver tinsel, black wing with white tips, black hackle, and a yellow head and tail. Hook C.
It would be as well to try very small gaudy flies occasionally, as you may rise a grilse during the time you are fishing for white-trout. A grilse loves to rise at a middling gaudy fly after leaving the sea. Blue, green, and red flies are all good.
I will give three more favorites that will not miss:—
No. 1. Body brown claret colour, mixed with the fur of hare's ear, ribbed with silver twist, a short black hackle, wings rather light brown mallard, and a black head. Hook, Green Drake size, or No. 6.
No. 2. A black body, tipped with orange silk, ribbed with silver twist, a black hackle, and dark brown turkey tail wings. Hook No. 6 or C, varied with blue body and black-red hackle.
No. 3. A blue dun body, a dun hackle ribbed with silver twist, tail two fibres of mallard, and grey mallard for wings. Hook C, or No. 6. A fly with an olive body, and one with yellow and mallard wings, are good. These flies will be found great killers where the fish are plentiful, with a good ripple on the water, and would do admirably on the Dee and Don, at Aberdeen.
THE DEE AND DON.
These rivers run into the sea at Aberdeen, and are excellent for Salmon and Trout fishing—the Dee for Salmon, and the Don more for Trout, which are most delicious for the table; they cut as pink as Salmon. The white-trout fishing is good here in October, and the flies I have just given for the Tay will kill admirably in these rivers; and for salmon, will be capital ones, made a size or two larger. When I visited that country a few years back, I walked up the Dee one evening, and at a shallow ford, above the bridge, there were two men "stroke-hauling" the salmon as they run up out of the pool below, and which they called their rented fishery; they rushed into the stream with a sort of net in their hands, and had them out in quick time. As the fish run, the water did not appear to cover their backs. I was told, were it not for this practice, the river would be swarming.