APRIL. 31 



self, like all others, is the truest teacher. Unlike the green 

 drake that rarely uses her legs on the water, but moves 

 with the current, the stone fly seems at home on its surface, 

 she drops and runs upon it with the same ease and freedom 

 she does on the ground trotting and making her way 

 across or down the streams, and lands where she lists, per- 

 fectly dry : it is thus she presents herself to the trout 

 paddling in quick motion, lively and dry, in various direc- 

 tions on the water ; and the angler must present her to him 

 in the same way as near as he is able, with a tough springy 

 rod and a line about the same length, two-thirds of it fine 

 strong gut. Move, unseen, with easy motion up the stream, 

 and dab the fly with precision on the eddies behind stones, 

 or other places of succour where the trout takes his station ; 

 or let it glide free and natural down on the current over 

 his likely haunts ; never drag it against the stream (un- 

 natural for any fly), or suffer it to drown, but succour and 

 re3over it by easy lifts and gentle jerks, to keep it on the 

 water alive and dry, for a dead fly hanging at the hook like 

 a piece of wet moss will not be taken on the top, and a good 

 artificial will maintain its appearance better in the water. 

 No time need be lost, for the stroke of the trout is often 

 quicker than the falling of the fly : if he refuse at first 

 sight, he rarely stands bantering, try about, hit the mark, 

 and preserve the fly be handy with the net, and days may 

 be seen for every fly a trout. Fish early and late, as dark- 

 ness will allow, and on drizzly days, which sometimes 

 brings the flies out. At times of flood, in May and June, 

 trout are very voracious, and screened by the thickness of 

 the water, cry havoc among minnows, bullheads, etc., but 

 when the flood has subsided and the waters are brown, the 

 stone fly comes in with great force. She is a true trier of 

 skill, and probably the best test of the general merits of the 

 flyfisher. Each rustic craftsman along the banks of the 

 winding streams, where the true art and science of flyfish- 



