CREEPER AND STONE FLY FISHING 67 



fished on the surface, as it loses much of its attrac- 

 tiveness when waterlogged. It will stand a fair amount 

 of knocking about, but jerks should be avoided, as 

 tending to throw the fly off the hooks. 



The Stone Fly accounts for some large fish, and 

 sometimes those old warriors that have passed the 

 regular fly-taking stage, and have become wily and 

 big, succumb to its charms. Therefore it is well to 

 remember that all places which harbour a trout will 

 often yield one under proper conditions ; and, although 

 the streams fish about as well with Stone Fly as with 

 anything else, it should not be forgotten that trout, 

 when on the feed, very often leave the streams for 

 shallow water, and for any vantage point where the 

 current concentrates all the flotsam and jetsam from 

 yards above into one narrow channel, and that they 

 love to haunt the neighbourhood of rocks and boulders. 



The Stone Fly wiU kiU many fish which are not 

 strictly on the feed, but which cannot resist the 

 temptation to make the most of the Stone Fly season 

 when a great juicy female fly floats overhead. If the 

 reader bears this fact in mind he will seize the oppor- 

 tunity in the early summer to get the big one which 

 has so often waved a vanishing tail at his flies. 



The size of the fly is against its being sucked in as 

 easily as the usual artificial, and it is of advantage to 

 give a moment's grace before striking when a fish 

 rises. Never to be forgotten is the disappointment of 



