1 64 MODERN SEA FISHING 



sized salmon fly. Nowadays, however, many bass fishermen 

 prefer the fish-skin flies to any made of feather and tinsel. The 

 dogfish-tail fly (p. 171) should be killing. I have not had an 

 opportunity of trying it. One very important thing in fly fish- 

 ing for bass is to work the fly in rapid jerks, and, of course, the 

 man who can cast well will catch many more fish than he who 

 is inexpert at this most delightful branch of angling. 



It is very desirable not to allow the boat to go over 

 bass ; and in the strong tidal currents which are chiefly fre- 

 quented by these fish it is often necessary to have two men, 

 or even three, to row the boat. If you can reach the fish from 

 the shore, as from rocky points, so much the better ; but where 

 there is a sound between an island and the mainland, such as 

 I have described, the fish will as likely as not be feeding out in 

 the centre of the current. 



Of course there is no reason to be idle while waiting about 

 for the fish to begin feeding on the surface. A little railing 

 may be done ; and pollack, bass, or mackerel will very likely 

 be taken in that way. But, . I repeat, above all things do not 

 let the boat go just over the bass ground, nor, when the bass 

 are feeding, allow your men to take you too near them. The 

 longer the line can be cast, the better. 



Very few salmon fishers are able to get out a long line 

 cleanly and well unless they are casting down stream and the 

 line is extended by the water at the end of each cast. If they 

 were to cast up stream the flowing water would bring the fly back 

 to them, and it would be a difficult thing to pick the line off the 

 surface and make the proper backward cast previous to the for- 

 ward cast which sends the fly in the desired direction. Dry- 

 fly fishermen in Hampshire, who fish mostly up stream, usually 

 grease their lines to make them float. The line can then be 

 picked off the water even when it is not extended ; but in sea or 

 salmon fishing the line is sunk, and long casts cannot well be 



