FLIES TO FOLLOW THE DRAKE. 239 



seldom fail to yield capital remuneration in the way 

 of sport, as, during the warmer weather, numbers of 

 insects fall upon the water in the dark hours, and 

 are taken by the fish as soon as they are discernible 

 each morning. This is a wrinkle. 



For a week or ten days after the Green Drake has 

 disappeared the trout lie dormant in the deeps ; until 

 again hunger-bitten they disdain small food, but after 

 the lapse of this time, they leave the stills and return 

 to the shallows and rapids. 



The Oak fly is really invaluable to the fly-fisher in 

 June, after the Drake season. This fly has the form 

 somewhat of a Blue-bottle, and the colour of the 

 Sand fly, the body being more slender than that of 

 the former, and ribbed with black. This is a good fly 

 to dib with in a style similar to the May fly (see page 

 232). Towards evening, after sundown, the Red and 

 Golden Spinners are generally on the water in great 

 force, at intervals here and there, mostly near weirs, 

 bridges, or overhanging trees and bushes, where they 

 may be seen whirling in clouds. The trout are in 

 better condition at the latter part of the month than 

 at any other part of the year, a small half-pound fish 

 proving as strong and vigorous as a fish double the 

 weight a month or two earlier or later. The extra- 

 ordinary fattening qualities of the heavy ephemera 

 are mainly instrumental in effecting the change. 



JULY. 



The fish are now to be found in the small eddies 

 and small streams behind large stones, sunken rocks, 



