76 BUSH OR SHADE FISHING* 



daping, viz. with a long rod, a short strong line, 

 and a natural fly or grub. 



Though this mode of angling is accompanied 

 with less exercise than regular fly-fishing, yet the 

 largest trout are taken by it. It requires a stiff 

 rod ; a stronger line may be used ; this portion of 

 the tackle being never in the water except when a 

 fish is hooked. The bottom part should be of stout 

 silkworm gut, and the hook proportioned to the 

 size of the fly, about No. 3. for the brown beetle, 

 and No. 7. for other flies. When these are small, it 

 will be advisable to put on two at once, as they 

 frequently fall in couples upon the water. This 

 double bait has also the advantage of more com- 

 pletely concealing the hook. A strong line is re- 

 commended for daping, because, in this mode of 

 angling, the best sport is invariably in the most dif- 

 ficult and confined situations, where skill and manage- 

 ment can be of little use, and your dependence 

 must be entirely on the strength and goodness of 

 your tackle. Under " the tangled roots of pendent 

 oaks," within those deep dark holes from which the 

 light of day is excluded by a mass of tangled briers, 

 among floating driftwood, or the branches of a fallen 

 tree, that is often found to occupy the entire bed 

 of the stream, and where good trout will almost in- 

 variably be found, it would be impossible to play a 

 fish, the only safe plan being to have him out im- 

 mediately. 



As almost every insect that crawls or flies, fur- 

 nishes at one period or another grateful food for 



