96 ANGLING FOR COAESE FISH. 



water. Any pull of the line by the angler, or shake of the 

 rod-top, destroys the illusion. When the fly gets wet, it has to 

 be dried by repeated waves of the rod in the air. Large dace 

 sometimes rise in the evening in the deep, quiet reaches of rivers. 

 They will then take the dry fly, and the dry fly only. 



The trout-fisher should have no difficulty in finding, in his 

 book, a few small flies which will kill dace; but if flies have to be 

 specially purchased, I should recommend black palmers (with 

 silver twist on body), red palmers, and coachmen (a few of the 

 last-named tied with upright split wings for dry-fly fishing), all 

 of which will be rendered more killing by the addition of a very 

 short tail of white wool, or white kid glove. Mr. R. B. Marston, 

 editor of the Fishing Gazette, tells me that the best dace-fly 

 he knows has a silver tinsel body, light wings, and light grey 

 hackle. I have not yet had an opportunity of trying it, but feel 

 sure it is a good fly. Quill gnats and small govenors will 

 also be found killing, and a few tied with upright wings for dry- 

 fly fishing may prove very useful. Dace also rise well to red- 

 spinners and yellow duns. In dace-fishing, as in trout-fishing, 

 the angler will lose nothing by noting the flies on the water, 

 and if there is a great batch of any particular fly, he will cer- 

 tainly be rewarded if he puts up an imitation of that fly, and 

 fishes with it. When a rise of May -fly is on, dace will take the 

 ai'tificial freely. At such times the red-spinner is also a 

 good fly. 



The most modern form of hook for artificial flies is known 

 as the eyed hook. The shank of the hook is terminated by an 

 eye, to which the angler fastens the gut. I find little or no 

 difference in the hooking powers of eyed hooks and hooks bound 

 to gut. Flies on eyed hooks are economical, for as soon as the 

 gut wears near the fly it can be re-tied. The angler can also 

 put on gut of any degree of fineness. The one disadvantage of 

 eyed hooks — a very slight one — is the trouble of tying on the 

 gut. One of the easiest and best methods of fastening the fly 

 to the gut is the Turle knot, illustrated on page 21. 



As dace will take the artificial fly, they will, of course, take 

 the natural insect, and a bluebottle, house, or any other fly of 

 sufficient size, properly offered to them, is almost certain to be 



