FISHING WITH NATURAL FLY 191 



water but the fly, if a fish be taking (as most fish are when 

 the May fly is on) and the angler be anything but a bungler, 

 a rise should be almost a certainty. When a fish rises at a fly 

 give him time enough to get the fly into his mouth before you 

 strike ; as the May fly is a largish fly, the trout will possibly not 

 take the entire fly quite in his mouth at the first gulp, but sucks 

 it in slowly, and a strike then may eventuate in the hook coming 

 away without the fly, and a scared fish. I have often known 

 this to be the case, and were it not for the misses the fish would 

 have a bad chance against the blow-line ; but a miss or two of 

 this kind soon renders them wide-awake, and I have seen a 

 blow-line worked over a mile of stream where lots of fine fish 

 were rising at the May fly without hooking a fish. Of course 

 the angler must do his best to keep out of sight of the sharp- 

 eyed fish, or even the best-worked blow-line will fail in its 

 effect, and as the length of rod and line employed is rather 

 limited, this is not always easy. In fishing a lake the boat is 

 allowed to drift with the wind, and the rises are fished in much 

 the same way as in a river. 



By far the more skilful, and the more difficult plan of using 

 the live fly, however, is to employ only the ordinary fly-rod, 

 and with about three yards of the very finest gut, and a fine 

 wire, No. 7 straight bend, short-shanked hook, to cast the fly 

 as though it were but an imitation. In the action of casting a 

 good deal of care and practice are required, or the fly will whip 

 off to a certainty. Then in guiding the fly down over the 

 stream, it is necessary not to check it, or it immediately 

 becomes entirely immersed ; and after this has happened two 

 or three times the wings will most likely become wet and the 

 fly will be useless. 



Having baited the hook as in blow-line fishing, let out 

 rather more line than the length of the rod (the angler will 

 soon find out how much he can manage), take the line about 

 six or eight inches above the hook between the finger and thumb 

 of the left hand, wave the rod and the bagged line backwards 

 and forwards once or twice to get the spring, and, if possible, 

 to wait for a slight air or puff of wind (it is needless to say that 

 it is very desirable to get the wind in your favour in this kind 

 of fishing), then, as you intend to cast, raise both hands before 

 you as though casting the fly with both hands, as it were, 

 towards its destination ; at the proper moment, when the 

 impulse is given (and this exact moment nothing but experi- 

 ence will tell) let go of the line and cast softly, and without jerk 



