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 two
_good_ fish 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
[Illustration]
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, thus
[Illustration].
Then tie a common knot at each end, thus
[Illustration].
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 gut and 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:—
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
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.”