122 TROUT FISHING 



to discover his mistake till he has the hook in his 

 mouth. The bob I generally make a quieter fly 

 this fly has to depend more on deception than 

 attraction his work more nearly approaches the 

 duty of the fly on the quiet and large stream, viz. 

 so to resemble a living insect as to deceive the 

 trout into the belief that he is one, for the reason 

 that his work is quieter, and he is kepfc floating 

 on the top of the water, and often is used even on 

 small brooks, just as a bob fly is used on a large 

 stream, to go into little places under banks and 

 under bushes where the stretcher cannot be 

 worked as he should be worked to do his duty. 

 Each fly, then, has a separate office to perform 

 the stretcher to be cast almost into the mouth of 

 the trout and tease him out, by attracting him to 

 his impudence; the bob to act the more deceptive 

 and quieter part ; so I make the latter like one of 

 the many flies every fisherman has plenty of, a 

 blue dun, a hare's flax, cow-dung, any indeed 

 which happen to be about the water at the time. 

 We have noticed that fishermen write a great deal 

 about imitating the natural fly ; if they think that 

 imitating the natural insect alone or principally is 

 to be relied on for sport in rapid streams, I can only 

 say a considerable experience is not in support 

 of such an idea ; and as to the stretcher fly, why 

 mine is generally wholly unlike anything of insect 

 life I have ever seen on the wing. Certainly, the 

 nearest approach would be a large humble-bee 

 with a smart military jacket and moreover, the 

 way in which he conducts himself in the water is 



