DACE AND CHUB. 267 



water with a more natural descent, and just in the 

 position where a Chub would be Hkely to be on the look- 

 out for a caterpillar or cockchafer. 



The angler should be slow rather than quick in strik- 

 ing a Chub with the fly — the fish, especially when large, 

 being as I have said, somewhat slow and clumsy in its 

 movements, and having remarkably white lips which 

 are often visible at 10 or 15 yards off as it opens its 

 mouth for the fly. When once hooked, and the first 

 powerful rush for the boughs checked, the Chub very 

 seldom escapes, being remarkably tough and gristly 

 in the jaws and lips, or as it is termed " leather- 

 mouthed." 



As for all the other species of fly-taking fish, the in- 

 genuity of anglers has contrived a vast variety of artificial 

 lures for the Chub. Of these manifold products of nature 

 and art — or of art without nature — the best are the black 

 and red palmer and the Marlow buzz. These owe their 

 chief killing properties to the fact that they have more 

 legs (hackles) than the rest ; and as I have already ex- 

 plained, a propos of Salmon and Trout, the movement and 

 lifelike appearance which legs give are amongst the 

 most important of all the characteristics of an artificial 

 fly. This " movement" is, in the case of Chub flies, of 

 additional importance, owing to the quiet, comparatively 

 stagnant waters in which they are frequently employed. 

 Trout and Salmon flies are, it is true, very commonly 

 used on lakes, where there is no current whatever ; but 



