140 Natural-Fly Fishing. 



are more likely to meet with a readier response 

 from the double barb. 



Before casting, moisten the wings of the flies 

 with saliva. This will ensure that they sink to 

 some extent below the surface, and so constitute a 

 much more deadly bait than if they were floating. 

 Note, too, that the same result will not be attained 

 by merely soaking them, however thoroughly, in 

 the stream. 



Fishing with the natural fly below the surface is 

 practised only up-stream, and in the absence of 

 wind. In contrast to the method of fishing with a 

 floating fly, all casts with the sunk fly should be 

 made from the channel and towards the bank. 

 This style of angling is most successful under a 

 bright sun, when the water is " small " and clear. 

 Indeed, whatever method may be adopted in fish- 

 ing with the May-fly, and whatever the condition 

 of water, the angler will invariably find that bright 

 sunshine will bring him most sport. A dull cloudy 

 day is unfavourable ; and if the water be very full, 

 it is better, even when there is no wind, to fish a 

 floating fly down-stream than a sunk fly up. 



The best period of the day for May-fly fishing is 

 generally from about nine o'clock in the morning 

 until three in the afternoon. In the lower reaches 

 of the Clyde and the Tweed, where the rivers run 

 over dark rocky beds, trout take it most readily in 



