hers, and improvements
both in flies and tackle have been very great. Quite lately, however,
there has been a movement in favour of light rods for dry-fly fishing
as well as wet-fly fishing. The English split-cane rod for dry-fly
work weighs about an ounce to the foot, rather more or rather
less. The American rod of similar action and material weighs much
less--approximately 6 oz. to 10 ft. The light rod, it is urged, is
much less tiring and is quite powerful enough for ordinary purposes.
Against it is claimed that dry-fly fishing is not "ordinary purposes,"
that chalk-stream weeds are too strong and chalk-stream winds too wild
for the light rod to be efficient against them. However, the light rod
is growing in popular favour; British manufacturers are building rods
after the American style; and anglers are taking to them more and
more. The dry-fly method is now practised by many fishermen both in
Germany and France, but it has scarcely found a footing as yet in the
United States or Canada.

_Fishing with the Natural Fly._--The natural fly is a very killing
bait for trout, but its use is not wide-spread except in Ireland.
In Ireland "dapping" with the green drake or the daddy-longlegs is
practised from boats on most of the big loughs. A light whole-cane rod
of stiff build, about 16 ft. in length, is required with a floss-silk
line light enough to be carried out on the breeze; the "dap"
(generally two mayflies or daddy-longlegs on a small stout-wired hook)
is carried out by the breeze and just allowed to touch the water. When
a trout rises it is well to count "ten" before striking. Very heavy
trout are caught in this manner during the mayfly season. In the North
"creeper-fishing" is akin to this method, but the creeper is the
larva of the stone-fly, not a fly itself, and it is cast more like
an ordinary fly and allowed to sink. Sometimes, however, the mature
insect is used with equally good results. A few anglers still practise
the old style of dapping or "dibbling" after the manner advised by
Izaak Walton. It is a deadly way of fishing small overgrown brooks.
A stiff rod and strong gut are necessary, and a grasshopper or almost
any large fly will serve for bait.

_Other Methods._--The other methods of taking trout principally
employed are spinning, live-baiting and worming. For big river trout
such as those of the Thames a gudgeon or bleak makes the best spinning
or live bait, for great lake trout (_Jerox_) a small fi