DAPPING 157 



adepts believe in keeping the fly on the surface ; 

 but others declare that it is most effective if sunk 

 a little, in which case it must, we think, be indis- 

 tinguishable from a creeper. When a good upstream 

 breeze is blowing *and that is what the stone-fly 

 fisher desires it is unnecessary to cast the bait ; 

 the wind will carry it out beautifully. In the 

 absence of a breeze or when it is adverse, the fly 

 must be cast, but very lightly, if it is not to be 

 thrown away altogether. 



Not content with the grand sport obtained in 

 the two or three weeks during which the mature 

 stone-flies are about, some fishers, making deduc- 

 tions from their experience, search about for other 

 flies to use in the same way. The men of Leadhills 

 are the keenest and the most proficient at the game 

 that we have seen. They use the " Grey " fly, a 

 fat dipteron about the size of a Cleg, which is ex- 

 tremely common on the moors of Daer and Dun- 

 eaton, the Daddy-long-legs, and later in the year 

 the " Doctor/' a crane fly with black body and 

 scarlet legs. At times the ordinary House-fly and 

 the Blue Bottle are pressed into service, and the 

 luring capacity of all these insects, not one of which, 

 the stone-fly excepted, is of aquatic origin, furnishes 

 very convincing proof that trout in some streams 

 will accept with freedom flies which are not born 

 of the water. 



A day with the natural fly is a very interesting 

 experience ; but many anglers, holding that the 

 satisfaction derivable from any possession varies 

 directly with the difficulties encountered in its 

 acquisition, consider that the artificial fly consti- 

 tutes a more sporting lure, and prefer it beyond 



