186 THE WAY OF A TROUT WITH A FLY 



which might have the same effect in a stronger degree, 

 but they have yet to be found. The most effective agent 

 so far suggested is the discovery of Major H. J. Pack- 

 Beresford, of the Fly-Fishers' Club. It is within the reach 

 of the poorest, being nothing more than clay. It un- 

 doubtedly takes the part of the line to which it is applied 

 under water at once, and it does not seem to require 

 repeated applications. Most anglers must have noticed 

 the extraordinary drying effect on gut of the jar which 

 ensues on one's hitching into a tree on the back cast. It 

 seems to have the effect of drying even the clay-dressed 

 gut in such a way as to dry and jar all the clay off it in 

 one action. But if the angler be a believer in the virtues 

 of clay it is not difficult to carry a little moist lump with 

 him, and to apply it " when so dispoged." 



OF GLYCERINE. 



Obviously, however, clay, with or without glycerine, is 

 quite unsuitable for causing a fly to sink, for it would foul 

 the material of the fly and perhaps destroy the colour. 

 Glycerine by itself is free from this objection, and the fol- 

 lowing account of a recent afternoon and evening on the 

 Itchen may serve as evidence of its value as an agent for 

 taking the fly under. 



I reached the river-side with a friend about half-past 

 three on a dull afternoon in mid-July, 1920, and looking 

 up a favourite bend I saw a series of soft rings spreading 

 under my own, the right bank. My friend, as guest, took 

 first shot; I looked on. Presently I became aware of blue- 

 winged olive coming down upon the surface, and I knotted 

 on my cast a fly which I had dressed coming down in the 

 train from town. The hook was a No. 15 Limerick, tying 

 silk yellow ; hackle a soft, floppy, dark blue, which matches 

 the wing of a blue- winged olive very well; body of a soft 



