SOUTH COUNTRY ANGLING 9 



Test is the real home of the big sedge fly angler, 

 though there are plenty of other streams where the 

 lure can be tried with success. For dry-fly use the 

 large red or brown sedge, as tried by Holland of 

 Winchester and others, floats well enough, but the 

 confirmed believer in paraffin usually prefers to 

 anoint the fly with a little of his favourite liquid 

 before sending it on its mission. 



Writing of paraflin reminds me that dry-fly 

 fishermen seem, from the quite heated discussions 

 which have taken place of late on this matter, 

 almost ripe for division into two schools, one 

 consisting of ardent believers in the necessity 

 of anointment, the other — the minority, I fancy 

 — of profound sceptics ! In trying, not long ago, 

 to take up a middle position, the writer found 

 himself in rather hot water. He still ventures to 

 hold the view that the fly can be made to float 

 and to kill without the oil, and that the labours 

 of drying it in the air are by no means of a Hercu- 

 lean character ; but at the same time he is ready 

 to admit that it is often a relief to have a little 

 bottle at hand. When enjoying — thanks to a most 

 generous friend — some delightful sport among the 

 upper Test trout last May-fly season, he stealthily 

 drew from the kitchen lamp in the Crook and 

 Shears at Bransbury. Some say that you must 

 anoint with scentless paraffin, but there is nothing 

 whatever in this. Scentless paraffin may be rather 

 more pleasant to handle, but ordinary lamp paraffin 

 will do for the Test trout, and therefore, it may be 

 safely assumed, for those of all other streams. One 

 plan is " to paraffin " your flies before you start 

 from your fishing quarters, when you know what 

 you are likely to use. A small application on the 



