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It will catch fish throughout the fishing season, and may be used with most success after a flood and on windy days.

IMITATION.

Mulberry-coloured worsted spun on brown silk, and a brown stained cock's hackle wrapped over the whole.

It may

be varied (to imitate S. Menthastri) by making the body of ostrich herl, of a drab colour, and winding a grizzled hackle over. Hook No. 6, Palmers.

No. 47. THE BLACK AND RED
PALMER.

This is the caterpillar of Arctia caja, or the Garden Tiger Moth, full-grown.

It is used in May, June, and July principally.

IMITATION.

Black ostrich herl ribbed with gold twist, and

a red cock's hackle wrapped over it.

This Fly

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PALMERS FOR THE FISHING SEASON. 129

may be made large, and will kill large Thames
Trout of 3, 4, and 5 lbs. weight, and Salmon
Trout, with great success.
The feather at the

shoulder should be a large furnace hackle from
the rump
of a game cock, and the ostrich herl
should be wound thickest there. The gold twist
should be shown clearly at the tail, and the tail-
hook should be large and strong.

Hook No. 7, Palmers.

Not many years ago, a gentleman had just arrived, about the middle of June, as a stranger at a Fishing Station on the Thames. Meeting the head fisherman of the place by the waterside, he asked "What Fly was most successful in raising the Thames Trout there;" and receiving no immediate reply, suggested the above "Large Red Palmer." "Oh no!" was the reply: "per-" fectly useless." "Indeed!" said the gentleman, "it raises large Trout everywhere else in England." "It's useless here, however." "Well, I shall give it the first trial, nevertheless."

That evening the gentleman went down about half-past six, and about seven o'clock had landed a Trout of 3 lbs. with a fly made as above.

Another evening he hooked and played a larger, and lost it. Subsequently he took two one morning, before 7 A.M., the larger of which weighed 51⁄2 lbs. ; and various others.

K

1

The Large Red Palmer was the "best fly that could be used" for Trout there ever after.

Show plenty of gold at the tail; and let your feather be a good black near the head, and shade off to a rich game red. A fly of this kind falls more lightly, and shows more life in the water, than other large flies. The elastic fibres of the hackle open and close as it is drawn across the stream, and it displays its colours to the best advantage. A hackle fly is never on its back. The Black and Red, or Large Red, Palmer, will ever be a standard Trout fly. For a Dropper, a smaller fly of similar materials, on a single hook (No. 7), will be found a good accompaniThat this is taken for a beetle of some kind by the Trout is highly probable.

ment.

The caterpillar of the Garden Tiger Moth is common on nettles during the autumn and spring; that of the Drinker Moth is abundant in spring on rank grass. Both rejoice in the familiar name of Woolly-bears in some places. Before these spin their cocoons, which they do in May and June, they wander from their food often to a great distance; and from this circumstance are called Palmers. It is probably during these pilgrimages mostly that they fall a prey to the fish through various mischances.

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