i8 4 



Smaller Fly Takers. 



CHAP. XII. 



absorbed into a tight knot. Then pull your drop fly close up to its 

 own knot, and you are ready for action. 



What I consider the advantages of this knot are, that it is tied as 

 quickly, if not more quickly, than any other ; is as neat as the neatest 

 of them ; can be tied in any part of the collar you like, so that you can 

 have your drop fly at the precise distance you fancy from the tail fly ; 

 and if a breakage or anything has somewhat curtailed that distance, 

 you can hit it off again to a nicety. This is a point to my fancy, for it 

 makes one unhappy to have the drops crowded together. To move 

 your first drop a length further up will, perhaps, bring it too near the 

 other drop, whereas you had rather it were not quite so near the tail fly. 

 This is the dilemma in which you are placed, if you are dependent on 

 the knots at the joins, whereas by my plan you can locate your drop fly 

 just where you have a mind, to an inch. Again, it is superior I think 

 to other knots in the ease with which you can remove your fly. Pull 

 the end A. and the drop, and the knot will open, with a little aid of the 

 nails on the knot. Or if you are not handy at this work, or will not be 

 troubled, nothing is easier than to nip the fly off close up to the gut. 

 You lose next to nothing of the length of the drop thereby ; you lose 

 considerably less than you do when nipping off one of Francis Francis' 

 drops. As soon as the drop is removed, the whole knot easily 

 straightens, and a fresh knot is tied, for a fresh drop in a fresh place, 

 an inch or so higher or lower. 



I have said be careful in tying the knot that the end E. is the end 

 nearest to the rod; the reason is obvious. 

 The knot is a slip knot, and therefore a 

 heavy fish on the drop might open it, if it were 

 not so placed that the more the fish pulls, the 

 more he tightens the knot. The end that 

 tightens up the loop D. and keeps the knot at 

 the head of the drop from coming through that 

 , loop, is the end E. ; E. being made the end 

 connected with the rod, it follows that the 

 more the fish pulls against you, the more he 

 tightens E., and the more secure he con- 

 sequently makes the knot. I showed this knot 

 to a friend, who tied it with A. towards the rod, lost his fish and fly, and 

 said it was my fault ! 



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