IOS ON TROUTING WITH THE FLY. 



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- 

 fore beginners should use moderately strong gut at 

 first, and as they improve in casting reduce its size. 



A difference of opinion exists as to whether a 

 trout should be struck on rising ; but in common 

 with the great majority of anglers, we advocate 

 immediate striking. When a trout takes a fly it 

 shuts its mouth, and if the angler strikes then, he 

 is almost sure to bring the hook into contact with 

 its closed jaws. We have frequently watched the 

 motions of trout on taking a fly, and when left to 

 do with it what they choose, they very quickly 

 expelled it from their mouths with considerable 

 force ; and we think that if the angler strikes even 

 when the trout's mouth is open, he will have much 

 better chance than by leaving it to hook itself. A 

 trout on seizing an artificial fly is almost instan- 

 taneously aware that it is counterfeit, and never 

 attempts to swallow it, very frequently letting it 

 go before the angler has time to strike ; so that it 

 is of the utmost importance to strike immediately, 



