HAND BOOK OF ANGLING. 159 



any rate the fly-fisher should endeavour to pre- 

 sent his artificial baits to the fish as deceptively 

 as possible ; that is, by giving them as natural 

 an appearance as may be. He must cause them 

 to drop lightly on the water, because the natural 

 fly does so ; he must cause them to swim down 

 as near the surface as he can, because the natural 

 fly moves upon the surface of the water ; and he 

 must impart motion to his flies, a species of 

 fluttering, generally speaking, being the best. 

 All this is comprehended by the expression 

 ' humouring' one's flies. To do it, the moment 

 your flies alight upon the water, hold up your 

 rod, so that the drop fly next to it may appear 

 skimming the surface ; the other two*, if properly 

 proportioned and attached to the casting line [or 

 collar], being ever so little under water. If you 

 allow your upper dropper to be under water, all 

 the flies below that dropper will be sunk too 

 deeply to appear living insects to the fish, and 

 therefore any motion you may give them will be 

 useless. They then can only be taken by the 

 fish for dead flies. When you keep your last 

 dropper on the surface of the water, impart to it 



* Our author is speaking of a collar fitted up with three 

 or more flies ; but there will be no difficulty in applying 

 his remarks to one fitted up only with two, as we advise. 



