ON TROUTING WITH THE FLY 99 



valuable commodity. The greatest objection to it, 

 however, is its disadvantages in striking a trout ; a 

 long line lies curved in the water, and when the 

 angler strikes, it is some time before the flies move ; 

 the line, in fact, requires to be straightened first. 

 When they do move, it is slowly and without force, 

 and there is little chance of hooking the trout. It 

 is very different with a short line ; in this case the 

 line is almost straight from the point of the rod to 

 the flies, and the least motion of the hand moves the 

 latter immediately. We advise the angler who is 

 using a long line, and raising but not hooking a 

 number of trout, to shorten his line, and he will at 

 once be struck with the difference. We have invari- 

 ably found that the nearer we are to our flies the 

 better we can use them, and the greater is our chance 

 of hooking a trout when it rises. 



The advantages of the second part of the maxim 

 to throw a light line it is impossible to over-estimate. 

 The moment the flies light being the only one in 

 which trout take the artificial fly for a live one is 

 the most deadly in the whole cast, and consequently 

 it is of immense importance to make the flies light in 

 a soft and natural manner. To accomplish this, and 

 to throw with certainty to any spot wished, requires 

 great practice, and even the most practised angler 

 can never make his flies fall so softly as an insect 

 with outspread gauzy wings. 



Thin gut, the necessity of which we have advo- 

 cated so strongly, is exceedingly difficult to cast, as 

 it has little weight to carry it forward, and there- 



