152 ELEMENTS OF ANGLING. 



always to fish the Mayfly wet and downstream, and 

 by all accounts their success was at any rate equal 

 to ours. But where there is a reasonable chance 

 of catching trout by fishing dry I think it is a pity 

 to fish the Mayfly wet nowadays. It disturbs a 

 good deal of water with, relatively, poor results. 

 Also the days on which one is tempted to do it are 

 usually at the beginning of the rise, when indis- 

 criminate flogging may do a good deal of harm. 

 Trout do not rush at the Mayfly the moment it 

 appears, and evidently regard it with suspicion for 

 a day or two. But they have no scruples about 

 attacking the nymphs, and what the novice sees and 

 resents is really a preliminary to surface feeding. 

 41 Hammering" the water while they are nymphing 

 may prevent them from taking flies at all and is 

 almost certain to make them shy when they do 

 begin. 



The Mayfly time is pre-eminently the opportunity 

 for getting a really big trout,* but one has to make 



*The novice may some day want to utilise the opportunity 

 by going to Ireland and fishing one of the big lakes. Here 

 he will find quite a different kind of Mayfly fishing, i.e. 

 dapping with the natural insect : for this diversion a long light 

 whole-cane rod of 16 feet or more, a line of floss silk which is so 

 light that it will float out on quite a small breeze, a yard of 

 sound undrawn gut, and a small hook rather stout in the 

 \vire, are employed. On the hook is impaled a Mayfly (or 



