Objective: To investigate the importance of the type of dry fly (artificial floating fly) in catching trout (brown and rainbow) in an English chalkstream.
Setting: River Kennet, Berkshire.
Design: Five anglers on five separate occasions spent five hours using a randomly allocated fly from a sample of five types.
Participants: Five anglers of considerable but varying experience, determination, and opinion.
Main outcome measures: Number, weight, and species of trout caught.
Results: One fly (Black Gnat) performed significantly worse than the others. The fly most successful in catching brown trout was the Cinnamon Sedge.
Conclusion: The possible prolongation of doctors' leisure time consequent on the use of unproductive trout flies has resource implications for the NHS. Urgent funding of a definitive, large multiriver trial is needed.