38 THE SONG OF THE REEL. 



many friends. It delights in the rapid waters below weirs, also in 

 the strong streams, and from either of these places it may be taken 

 by means of the artificial fly. The gut-cast is stouter than that 

 used in dace-fishing, the reasons for which being the fact that 

 the chub is a much heavier fish than the dace, and that the standard 

 flies used to attract the " cheven " are larger than those offered to 

 the dace. When in a rising mood, however, the chub shows no 

 great discrimination between the many patterns of the orthodox 

 flies, and there are times when it takes a fancy to a small Dun 

 fished dry. On the finer gut-cast, which is requisite when using a 

 tiny dry-fly, a lusty " loggerhead " gives excellent sport, its first 

 mad, headlong rush for the willow roots being especially thrilling ; 

 whilst its subsequent stubborn borings into deep water test both the 

 tackle and the dexterity of the angler. 



Of flies, the most effective are the large Red and Black Palmers, 

 Cock-y-Bondhu, Coachman, Zulu, Alder and the Governor. 



Among the methods of capturing chub there is one that stands 

 out as the most picturesque, though it is practised, perhaps, the 

 least. This is the method of dapping with the natural grasshopper, 

 cockchafer, bluebottle, or a similar substantial-bodied fly. 



On a hot, bright summer day, when Nature and her world, 

 with but few exceptions, are enjoying, as it were, their customary 

 siesta, the angler resorts to some tree and bush-girt backwater, 

 or to a spot where, towards evening, when the cows, with shrunken 

 udders, have returned to the pastures and the westering sun has 

 sunk lower in the heavens, the willows by the waterside will spread 

 fantastic shadows upon the surface of the river. There, in the heat 

 of the day, the angler, his face shaded by a broad-brimmed hat, 

 crawls on his hands and knees into a position from where he may 

 best urge yonder fat chub he has espied basking in the sun to accept 

 the tempting bait he is about to offer it. After reaching the shelter 

 of a bush and making sure of the distance between himself and the 

 fish, the angler reels up his line until it is about half the length of his 

 light, stiff rod. Then he gently throws the natural bait into the 

 air so that it may fall upon the water as if from the overhanging 



