THE SPENT GNAT 125 



Perhaps the best sport of all is to be obtained 

 with the spent gnat, a term used to describe 

 the mayfly when it is exhausted after laying its 

 eggs, and floats dead or dying on the water. 

 After the fly has been some few days on the 

 water, the spent gnat may be observed towards 

 evening, and then a good imitation of it will 

 often prove most successful. 



Mr. Wood states that the mayfly lives but a 

 few hours only. Now, if this is so, it surely 

 appears somewhat strange that, although there may 

 have been a heavy rise of fly for some few days, 

 the spent gnat does not appear, except very 

 occasionally, on the water during those days. 

 When, however, it is on, it is, in my opinion, 

 more killing than the fly in its former stages. 



In the list of flies which I have given, I have 

 named ' the Wickham's fancy,' so called from 

 its inventor, Dr. Wickham, of Winchester. It 

 is perhaps one of the very best all-round flies 

 known to fishermen. It is a description of red 

 spinner, ribbed with a red hackle and gold twist, 

 over a flat gold body. When fish are to be 

 caught, it is rarely that the ' Wickham ' fails to 

 do its duty. I refer to it here because, as I 

 have before remarked, there are times during 

 the mayfly season, even when the rise is 

 heavy, when the fish are not to be taken with 

 the artificial mayfly. On such occasions, my 



