TACKLE AND FLIES FOR KIGIIT-FISlUNti. 



time. There ought to be some period during the twenty- 

 four hours when the trout can feed safely without distur- 

 bance or the fear of a hook before them ; but as fly-fishing 

 is now too often conducted, there is not ; and this natu- 

 rally makes the fish suspicious of every lure, while big trout 

 get so shy that they seldom, in small streams, get into 

 really good condition at all. Unfortunately where night- 

 fishing has been practised it is useless, after June, to fish 

 until late in the evening, unless in very favourable weather 

 indeed. 



For night-fishing, the fewer flies the angler uses the 

 better. He should never use more than two under any 

 circumstances, and even one is better, as the slightest 

 hitch or tangle, which in the daylight would be of no con- 

 sequence, becomes fatal in the dark. It is desirable always 

 to put up two casts, a spare one for a change being round 

 the hat. These casts need not be long, a yard and a half 

 of gut for one fly, and two yards for two, is quite long 

 enough ; any gut does, and it is as well to use it reason- 

 ably stout and coarse, for very little play or law should be 

 given to the fish at night, as the angler cannot see obstruc- 

 tions. If a change of flies be desired, let them be so 

 pjirod on the angler's bat that he can with certainty pick 

 out the fly he requires without the necessity for examin- 

 ing it ; and as it is almost impossible to undo loops in the 

 dark, the fly should be dressed on a plain strand of gut, 

 and the end of the casting-line left unlooped, so that the 

 fly can be knotted on at once, this being a process which 

 you manage pretty well by feeling. When the fly is to 

 come off it must be broken off, and the fresh one tied on 

 in its place. 



Always fish with a tight line, and rather down-stream, 

 in the dark. If the angler fishes up-stream there is every 

 chance of a slack line, when he will not feel the rise. All 

 must be done by feeling ; for though occasionally, if the 



