PLACING THE FLY ON THE LINE 51 



the trout. Once more failure again ! Well, as I 

 don't like to leave a rising fish, we will try another 

 fly, and this time one of a warmer tint. Often it 

 is a good plan, when the fish have not started really 

 feeding on the fly of yesterday, to try a fly with red 

 heckles. So you see this fly in my cap that I am going 

 to use ; it is called the Red Quill. It has double 

 starling wings, red heckle, and quill body. I now 

 press the spear of the rod into the turf again, and my 

 hands are free. You see these small but sharp scissors 

 in my knife, which I have secured by a chain and 

 keep in my right-hand coat pocket; I snip off the 

 gut with them close to the eye of the hook, cutting 

 the knot if possible, and, after clearing out the gut 

 from the eye of the hook with the pricker in the 

 knife, stick the fly into my cap, just where you see 

 two or three more flies of the same colour. I place 

 the end of the gut in my mouth to soften while I 

 detach the Red Quill by taking it firmly between the 

 finger and thumb, and by working it gently, it readily 

 comes free from the rough material of my cap. I 

 now slip the end of the softened gut through the 

 eye of the fly, passing it round the cast above the 

 eye in an overhand knot. I then draw this knot 

 taut, and by pulling on the cast bring this overhand 

 knot close to the eye of the fly. I have used as 

 small an end as possible, which I now cut off.* 

 The Red Quill fly must now be oiled, and the re- 



* For further particulars of this and other knots see Chapter IV., 

 page 125. 



42 



