CHAPTER XI. 



DAPPING FOR TROUT. 



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[HIS form of angling has been brought to a fine art in 

 Ireland, and on many Irish loughs, in the May fly season, 

 the heaviest trout are brought to book by means of the 

 natural insect and the blow line. The columns of the 

 Field newspaper testify every year to the efficacy of 

 dapping, and, without doubt, many a heavy fish that 

 otherwise would only live to prey upon its smaller brethren 

 is thus accounted for. 



We do not all of us have leisure or opportunity to 

 test these Irish waters, or this particular form of sport with the blow 

 line ; but many of us come across deep, heavy runs of water, overhung 

 with continuous branches, where the heavy trout lie, unapproachable 

 and unvanquished, to become gross and even pike-like in the carnivorous 

 and cannibalistic form of life. 



Such fish are well worth catching, if you can get them, and far 

 better out of the stream than in it. Wise in their own generation, 

 they take up their holt in places where casting is impossible with an 

 ordinary fly, and where, could you by any possibility get one out, your 

 fly would remain almost immovable in the sluggish deeps and overhung 

 holes. The problem is then presented to you as to how their capture 

 can best be effected. This is your opportunity for trying dapping ; and 

 although, to my unorthodox mind, such fishing is parlously near akin 

 to poaching, yet the accomplishment of their capture is so eminently 

 desirable that the end fully justifies the means. 



