104 WILLOWING A FLY. 



them off in the manner described ; this is called " willow- 

 ing a fly," but it is rather a dangerous operation for a 

 novice, as he will be very apt to entangle his line, and 

 either be compelled to wade perhaps up to the neck for 

 its rescue, or sacrifice it altogether. During a moderately 

 high and favourable wind, when trout generally take most 

 freely in all small clear waters, the whole process of fly- 

 fishing becomes, comparatively speaking, a very simple 

 affair indeed ; as all the angler has to do in this case, 

 is to keep his rod elevated in the desired direction across 

 the stream, when the wind itself will carry out the flies to 

 the wished-for spot, without any effort at casting on his 

 part, or at least a very trifling one, while at the same 

 time it will give the flies all the play they need upon the 

 water. Whoever follows his flies leisurely down the 

 stream in this way, and allows them to dangle on the 

 surface by the motion of the wind, will take a large creel 

 of trout even in a small river. 



It is only to the clumsy angler that annoying acci- 

 dents and misadventures are perpetually happening ; and 

 I have no doubt that the mere water-whipping fraternity 

 often break, lose, and destroy, more gut and flies in a single 

 day (if the rod itself escape), than a master of the art 

 will consume during a whole season. In nine cases out 

 of ten, a fouled line is only more inextricably entangled 

 by the ill-directed efforts of its flurried owner, when it 

 might be easily relieved by a little attention to the 

 following method. It will also spare the angler the 

 unpleasant alternative of sitting upon the banks for half 

 hours together, cobbling lines, while his more fortunate 



