THE TROUT. 157 



yourself; how drop your line, and how work it, or, rather, 

 let it work. You require a stiffish rod for the game. 

 Two small flies impaled back to back often answer better 

 than one large one. 



A kind of " dapping" is the use of the "blow- line," 

 with the natural fly. The rod for the purpose should be 

 very long and very light, and moderately stiff, the line of 

 the most delicate floss silk, and the foot-line of the very 

 finest gut. Tou stroll along the river, and when you see 

 a fish rise, you get the wind at your back, your rod per- 

 pendicular, and release your streamer, which should float 

 like a gossamer in the air. When you have the fly in 

 such a position that lowering the point of your rod would 

 allow it to drop on the spot you wish> you lower your rod 

 accordingly, and pray the River God to befriend you — the 

 which he often does. Indeed, this is a very killing method 

 with trout ; so much so, that it is not allowed on many 

 waters. I do not, however, see why it should be for- 

 bidden, for though I have said it is a very killing method, 

 it is only so when you have a river and the wind exactly 

 suited for it> and you yourself are a master of the art. 

 Do not suppose for a moment that any one can manipulate 

 a blow-line. 



Akin to dapping with the natural fly is dapping with 

 grasshoppers and a variety of other insects, more particu- 

 larly with beetles. A very young frog, or one just 

 emerging from the tadpole state, is a killing bait. Indeed, 

 so omnivorous is the trout that it would be difficult to 

 enumerate many living insects he would not take. In this 

 kind of dapping, however, you often let your bait sink 

 below the surface, and even to mid-water. No slight art 

 is required for success in this department, and to fish very 



