48 OILING THE FLY 



jacket. By taking out the cork, in which is held a 

 camel-hair brush with the hair immersed in the oil, 

 we find we have enough oil on it to touch lightly the 

 wings and heckle the legs of the fly. Only a very 

 little oil is required on the fly, and the rest can be 

 lightly applied to the line. After this is done squeeze 

 the fly in a handkerchief between the finger and thumb 

 being careful not to injure the wings and thus take 

 away any superfluous oil. 



I certainly advise the student to grease his cast, by 

 no means forgetting the prevalent idea that a floating 

 cast will put the trout down, or that the life of a cast 

 is injured by the use of fat. I do not think that a 

 good and carefully prepared gut cast will suffer from 

 the application of any pure fatty substance, and I 

 have noticed the very great advantage which a floating 

 cast possesses, and to secure this advantage I take care 

 that my cast is sufficiently greased to float on the 

 surface.* 



Certain makes of casts which I have tried, and which 

 are more generally used for wet fly fishing, have 

 certainly not turned out well ; but whether this has 

 been due to the fat I placed on them I cannot say, 

 as I have not again purchased casts of that particular 

 make. It may be, of course, that the method em- 

 ployed in the preparation of certain casts renders 

 them incapable of standing fatty dressings. 



In any case, I should advise the reader to use 



* By a floating cast I mean one which will lie straight and 

 evenly, and only partially submerged, on the surface of the water. 



