THE DACE. 101 



by checking the latter with the little finger on its 

 rim, saving the trouble of pulling the line off the 

 winch with the left hand. The line can be " shot " 

 from a free-running Nottingham winch by this 

 method. I oil a dry-fly (i.e. one that floats on the 

 surface) ; this saves much flicking of the rod back- 

 wards and forwards to get the water out of the fly, 

 and consequent blisters. I have had such terrible 

 hands, full of blisters, after a day's dry-fly work 

 that the saving of some hundreds of switchings 

 and much valuable time is a great consideration. 



In dry-fly fishing, a single fly is used ; in wet-fly, 

 an expert angler will use four or more in fast 

 streams. The fly furthest from the rod is called 

 the "leader," the others are "droppers." In wet- 

 fly, the angler has this advantage : he can try 

 several different flies on his cast, and soon finds 

 which one is best taken, and can alter his flies 

 accordingly. Almost any small trout-fly will kill 

 dace ; and the remarks of the May-fly fisher for 

 trout are more often deep than loud, when 

 some dace or chub takes the fly meant for trout. 



Do not despise dace when either fly- or float- 

 fishing ; but keep out of sight as much as possible. 

 Tipping the fly with a gentle is often productive of 

 good sport. 



