114 A knotty point. Chapt. vn. 



are caught in this way sometimes, but it is hot good 

 fishing, and will not pay as a rule. 



Fly fishing, it will be observed, is in this respect the 

 contrary to spinning, the rule in the latter case being to 

 pull the bait more or less against the stream. And the 

 same rule obtains more or less in salmon fly-fishing, but 

 then that is not properly fly-fishing, though commonly so 

 called, because no mortal can telKyou the entomological 

 specimen of which a salmon fly is a representation. 



Flies draw, and rust, and get moth eaten, quickly in 

 India, and should consequently be got from England in 

 small quantities from time to time. They are light, and 

 can easily travel in a letter. Do not buy any that have 

 been kept some time in store in a shop in this country. 

 But if you tie your own flies so much the better. 



It is decidedly a point to put on your drop flies neatly, 

 so that there shall be no large knot to make a ripple in 

 the water. Some put on the drop by a loop, but this is 

 a clumsy bungling way, that shows a great deal too much 

 for a wary fish. Some tie their collar with two knots 

 slipping together, so as to be able to pull them asunder 

 and insert the drop, after having tied a knot at the end 

 of it, and then pull the collar together. But I do not 

 like this plan, not only because all collars are not made 

 up so as to allow of its being done, but also because the 

 pulling asunder of tight knots soon frays the gut, and 

 weakens the collar at those points. Better than these 

 knots is the one recommended by Francis Francis. Tie 

 a simple knot at the end of your drop, and then with the 



