1 84 A Wrinkle for Dry-Fly Anglers' 



the hook with the bait. If he did not 

 invent it (and no one dare claim to invent 

 anything nowadays), at any rate, dry fly- 

 fishers have to thank Mr. Thomas 

 Andrews, the celebrated pisciculturist of 

 Guildford, for publishing the plan of oiling 

 your fly with petroleum, or Oyl of Peter as 

 Walton calls it. I have constantly proved 

 its efficacy in keeping the fly dry, and am 

 inclined to agree with Walton that fish 

 rather like the smell of this oil. Mr. 

 Andrews' plan and I have found it answer 

 admirably is to carry a little oil in one of 

 thpse small thick glass ink-bottles with 

 inverted neck which prevents spilling. 

 Have a small camel's-hair brush fixed into 

 the bottom of the cork, so that when you 

 remove the latter you have oil on the 

 brush ready for use. The bottle can be 

 suspended inside your creel, or from a 

 button of your fishing-coat. N.B. The 

 fly floats better after the first few casts, 

 and well-hackled flies answer best, of 

 course. It is a tip which has done much 

 to put the duffer at dry fly-fishing on a 

 level with the expert on the point of all 

 viz., keeping your fly floating on, and not 

 half-drowned in, the water. There is one 

 of Walton's recipes for making a carp 

 bait which some nights recently I heartily 

 wished might become popular viz., "Take 



