142 TROUT FISHING 



the head of a trout before he takes it. And again, 

 from the delicate nature of the fly you are pre- 

 vented throwing it into those little side spots and 

 holes closely adjacent to rapid water, lest it should 

 be caught instantly after alighting, and carried 

 away into a current which immediately would 

 wash it off the hook ; and whether the fish could 

 or could not catch the fly in such a spot, you are 

 unable to keep it on your hook ; and if the fish 

 were successful, in all probability he would seize 

 the fly after the force of the water had separated 

 it from the hook. 



The powers of the beetle as a bait combine the 

 qualities to a certain extent of the natural fly, and 

 of such baits as seem to me to act rather by 

 exciting and stimulating the trout to destruction 

 of helpless and intrusive victims. Respecting its 

 powers depending on qualities we trust to in the 

 delicate fly, as the May fly, viz. deception, the 

 beetle is very far inferior to it a few experiments 

 will prove it : go to a weir pool, conceal yourself 

 well, use your " dapping tackle " and be as 

 cautious and careful as you please, bob, dap, do 

 what you will, you will catch very few trout or 

 more probably none with the beetle ; similarly 

 use in the same spot the May fly, and you will be 

 sure to catch trout which your beetle had failed 

 to tempt. As a living insect to dap with, as that 

 word dap is commonly understood, and as the 

 May fly is fished with, the beetle is next to use- 

 less; I say next to useless because, though I 

 admit that some trout may in that way be taken 



