1 1 6 A rtificial-Fly Fish ing. 



the cast should be composed and arranged thus : 

 1, the trail -fly the teal -drake tied with black 

 hackle ; 2, the sand-fly ; 3, the blae ; 4, the sand- 

 fly; 5, the green-tail; 6, the sand-fly; 7, the black 

 blae; 8, the sand-fly; 9, the blae. This cast is 

 serviceable during May and June, except that in 

 the case of the trail-fly, the black hackle is changed 

 for the red towards the end of May. 



It will be observed that the sand-fly is the prin- 

 cipal entrfo in this bill of fare for the month, and 

 the young angler may rest assured that it has not 

 been inserted there without special regard to the 

 aldermanic tastes and gastronomic predilections of 

 those who are to dine and die. For, not only is it 

 undoubtedly the most killing lure in a warm and 

 dry May, but it remains longer in season than any 

 other individual fly that appears on the water. The 

 natural insects, as already shown, are not hatched in 

 the water like most of the other flies, but in the dry, 

 sandy, exposed channel of the stream ; and whenever 

 this becomes heated by the sun's rays, they flit in 

 myriads over the water. Hence it is during heat 

 and sunshine that this fly affords the best sport. 

 In such favourable circumstances it may take as 

 early as 7 or 8 o'clock in the morning, but in cold 

 dull weather it will not appear at all ; and th 

 angler's mainstay then must be the black blae, which 

 usually comes on the water about 11 or 12 o'clock. 



