FLY FISHING. 61 



web it will catch fish, at times it is vain to try with any other 

 bait. As a proof of the success of the black fly in this respect, an 

 angling acquaintance informed me that with one of these flies tied 

 as above directed, and which I had given him a short time pre- 

 viously, he captured two dozen and a half of trout on a very bright 

 day, at a time when the waters were remarkably low, and this 

 after he failed in hooking a single fish with any other fly belonging 

 to his stock ; nor did any of the party who accompanied him, and 

 who he considered, nearly as expert fishermen as himself, succeed 

 in catching a single fish. 



But this last mentioned fly, good as it is, must yet give place to 

 the fern web, or coch a bonddu as the Welshmen term it, which 

 is a pretty little miniature cock chafer, whose wings or rather hor- 

 ny coverings are of the same colour, and it is about three times 

 the size of the lady cow beetle, though the former insects vary consid- 

 erably in size from each other. They are seldom seen in any 

 quantities till June, during which month in some localities they 

 may literally be said to swarm, not only on the ferns, but also on 

 the willows, hazles, brambles, and apple trees : the latter of which 

 they have the character of injuring to some considerable extent. 

 But be this as it may, they are a most killing bait for a trout, 

 rivalling even the green and grey drake in the estimation of the 

 fishes, particularly in those parts of the West of England, where 

 the latter flies are not very abundant. It may be used with great 

 success in dapping ( of which hereafter ) and may be easily imi- 

 tated as an artificial fly. The body must be made very full, either 

 with a very dark coloured peacock or a black ostrich herl, with a 

 dark red hackle black at the root over all. The fibres of the hackle 

 must be short, and the red must not prevail too much, which in 

 fact should only show at the tips of the fibres. To represent the 

 insect in a state of rest, some strips of the red feathers of a par- 

 tridge's tail may be tied on in the same manner as just before 

 suggested in the imitation of the black fly. 



There are also two very pretty yellow flies, viz. the little yellow May 

 -fly, and yellow sally, that come in about the latter end of May, and 

 continue through the following one, though both differ much in 

 appearance, one having an upright wing, and the other carrying its 

 wings quite flat on the back and close to the body, and yet the 

 same imitations will do very well for both. The body should be 

 of lamb's wool of as near to the colour of brimstone as can be ; 



