198 Yorkshire Fly -Rods. 



"That we call Angling in the Middle 

 is also of two sorts, 



With a Minnow for a Trout, 



or 

 With a Ground-bait for a Grayling, 



" Of all which several sorts of Angling, 

 I will, if you can have the patience to 

 hear me, give you the best account I 

 can." 



After this methodical outline Cotton 

 proceeds to describe "Daping, Dabbing, 

 or Dibling " with the natural fly a fasci- 

 nating style of fishing still carried on in 

 many parts, notably with the drake on 

 the Irish lakes, where numbers of very 

 heavy fish are taken every May-fly season. 

 On English trout preserves it is not as a 

 rule allowed. In Hartington Mill-Dam 

 I have often seen splendid trout "roving 

 up and down to look for prey," as Cotton 

 says, and doubtless he caught many a good 

 fish there by " daping." He tells us that 

 " many years ago " he had fished in this 

 style with Walton, " one of the best Anglers 

 that ever I knew." As regards fly-rods, 

 he says : " The best that ever I saw are 

 made in Yorkshire, which are all of one 

 piece ; that is to say of several, six, eight, 

 ten or twelve pieces, so neatly piec't, and 



