es are also useful. A bit
later on the prawn takes precedence, the bigger the prawn the better. As
the season advances the lure, whatever it may be--fly, minnow, prawn, or
what not--should decrease in size until October, when again they should
assume larger proportions, but not so big as in the spring. Towards the
latter end of March, and onwards for the rest of the season, artificial
flies are are almost exclusively used. Truly wonderful specimens of the
fly dresser's art are some of the Shannon patterns. Fancy a salmon fly
dressed on an 8-o hook! Yet this is at times absolutely necessary to
ensure success. The best patterns for various times of the year are--For
February, March, and April, big Shannon Blue Fly, the Black Goldfinch,
the Jock Scot, and the Yellow Lahobber; for May, June, and July, Purple
Mixture, tinsel bodied Green Parrot, purple bodied Green Parrot, Silver
and Blue Doctors, Purple Widgeon, Orange and Grouse, and Thunder and
Lightning. Towards the end of the season here, as elsewhere, strange
fancy patterns will frequently prove successful. The most suitable
patterns of trout flies (the size of which depends entirely upon the
height of the water) are--Orange and Grouse, Green Rail, Purple Rail,
Black Rail, Orange Rail, March Brown, Hare's Ear, silver-tinselled body
Black Rail, and Orange and Grouse with a sprig of Guinea Fowl or Green
Parrot in wing.

The tackle for the coarse fish is of the ordinary character.

At the foot of Lough Derg stands ~Killaloe~, an ideal resting place for
an angler. The cathedral is of some interest, and in the vicinity the
Protestant Bishop's palace stands. The bridge connecting the town with
the village of Ballina has thirteen arches, and the huge weir helps as a
breakwater. Shortly above the bridge of old time stood Kincora, the
fortified palace of Brian Boru; its glory has departed, and all that
remains is a mound, crowned with a grove of trees. Here Brian of the
Tribes held his sway; and still the peasant in Munster, wishing to
express his welcome, says in Gaelic--"Were mine the boire of the Dane or
the wine of Kincora, it would be poured for you." Here it was that the
Norse King, Magnus, wintered early in the twelfth century, and found a
wife for his son, Sigurd, in the house of Brian. M'Laig, the bard of
Brian Boru, after the death of his king in 1014, made a lamentation,
which Mangan thus translated:--

"Oh! where Kincora is Brian the Great?
And where is the b