OAK-FLY, ASH-FLY, &C. 31 



line fixed on it, by which means I can always 

 keep my line to any length, without the trouble 

 oi changing it; and when I have hooked a good 

 fish, can always give him as much scope as I 

 think necessary, and kill him with great ease 

 and certainty ; this method I would by all means 

 advise the angler to use, who will be thoroughly 

 convinced of its utility at the first trial he makes. 

 Let the top of your rod be a stiff one. When 

 you see a fish rise near you, guide your fly over 

 him immediately, and he's your own, if the fly 

 you use is strong on the water. When you dib 

 for chub, roach, and dace, move your fly very 

 slow when you see them make at it, or let the 

 stream carry it down towards them ; if it be in a 

 still deep, shady hole, draw the fly sideways by 

 them, and they will always eagerly pursue it. 

 The roach takes flies the best a little under water. 

 The best for the angler's use in this method of 

 angling, are as follow : 



OAK-FLY^ ASH-FLY, OR WOODCOCK-FLY, 



Found on the body of an oak, or ash, with his 

 head -downward in general, and near the bot- 

 tom of the tree ; it is a brownish fly, and is 

 taken from the beginning of May till the end of 

 August. 



This fly is reported to breed in those little 

 balls which grow on the boughs of large oaks, 

 commonly called oak apples ; they are provided 

 with a hollow instrument, with which they per- 

 forate the tegument of leaves, fruits, or buds, 

 and through the hollow of it, inject their eggs 

 into the wounds which they have rnade ; where, 

 in process of time, they hatch and are nourish- 

 ed : through this discovery, the formation of 

 galls is accounted for. 



