TROUT-FLIES. 63 



turn, as the fly appears on it, becomes for a few 

 days a centre of attraction to the angling com- 

 munity, and many a boat which, as Pat says, is 

 only safe provided you do not " cough or snaze," 

 is then dragged from her moorings perhaps at 

 the bottom of the lake and pressed into the 

 service. The art of blow-line fishing, though in 

 its principles exceedingly simple, demands much 

 nicety of execution in practice, and, as indeed 

 its name implies, it cannot be pursued at all 

 without the assistance of that most inconstant 

 element, the wind. Weather, however, prov- 

 ing propitious, the tackle is easily adjusted. A 

 skein of floss silk prepared for the purpose, and 

 attached to the end of a light running-line, is sub- 

 stituted, so far as the actual casting is concerned 

 for the " reel-line," and to this, instead of the 

 ordinary fly-collar, is fastened a single small hook 

 whipped on a strand of fine gut. The hook is 

 baited with a May-fly, and as the boat drifts the 

 wind carries out the floss silk, which ought to be 

 so managed by the aid of hand and rod that only 

 the hook and fly should actually touch the water. 

 Near the edges of the reeds will usually be found 

 the greatest quantity of Ephemeridcz y and as 

 corollary the greatest number of Trout. The 



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