64 FLY TAILED WITH “GENTLE.” [PART I. 
line and five or six diminutive flies also tied on 
hair, and where I was told it would be lost la- 
bour to try gut. I was rather sceptical on the 
point, and tried fine gut, but soon had to resign 
it in favour of hair, when I found an immediate 
and striking difference. Where the water is clear, 
it may, I am persuaded, be often used to great 
advantage. It is somewhat troublesome to fish 
with, inasmuch as it requires great care in its use; 
—for, if you get hung up slightly, and clear your- 
self without a breakage or apparent mischief, yet 
perhaps the hair will start at a knot in conse- 
quence of the strain and come asunder a minute 
or two afterwards at the slightest touch. It is 
however astonishing, if the pull be a steady one, 
how much it will bear. 
When the water is very clear and bright, 
Trout will sometimes take the fly freely if tailed 
with a gentle, while they will not touch it with- 
out. A friend of mine, then residing at Geneva, 
and one of the best fishermen I ever knew, who 
used to catch a good many Trout in the neigh- 
bouring streams, considered it useless to go out 
when the water was in that state, unless he was 
provided with a supply of “fruit,” as he called 
them. No one would probably take advantage of 
