CHAPTER VI.
BOB-FLIES.
I never fish with more than one fly. Some fishermen use two, and even three, in addition to the end fly or stretcher. Those additional flies are called bob-flies. My opinion is, that one fly is sufficient, and that more are inconvenient, more difficult to manage, and cause a greater disturbance of the water, without any countervailing advantage. With bob-flies you may sometimes hook two fish at once, but they are generally very small under such circumstances. The luck of hooking twogoodfish at the same time rarely happens; and if it should happen, you would probably lose one or both of them, and some of your tackle into the bargain. Still, if you prefer fishing with two or more flies, the first bob-fly should be about three feet from the stretcher, and the second about five feet. More than two bob-flies I consider ridiculous, as well as prejudicial. The bob-fly may be attached, either by bending the tail line into a loop, thus
bending the tail line into a loop
and putting on the bob-fly through the loop as you would put on the stretcher; or the tail line may be separated at the point where the bob-fly is to be attached, and the two ends of the gut, at the separation, may be placed one over the other, thustwo ends of gut.
Then tie a common knot at each end, thustie a knot at each end.
insert the bob-fly
Then take the bob-fly, with about four inches of gut attached, and tie a common knot at the end of the gut. Then insert the bob-fly between the two ends of the gutand its knots. Then pull the two knots of the tail line tight together, and pull the knot of the bob-fly to meet those two knots, and the operation is finished, and the tail line and bob-fly assume the following appearance:—
pull the knot of the bob-fly
I consider this is the better plan of attaching a bob-fly, as it stands out better from the tail line, and is less likely to be entangled by it, and the knots of the tail line may be separated, and the bob-fly taken out. But, as I before observed, I do not recommend bob-flies. Those who like them may use them. Mrs. Glasse, after giving her admirable recipe for making a plum-pudding, adds, “those who like it may add an anchovy.”