Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1941 (SND Vol. II). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
BOB, n.4 Any fly on a cast other than a tail-fly, so called because it goes bobbing or “stotting” over the surface of the water. Also used attrib.Sc. 1835 T. T. Stoddart Art Angling . . . in Scot. 19:
The hooks ought to be a yard distant or more from each other; the two bobs or droppers depending three or four inches from the main line.Sc. 1932 H. Lamond Days and Ways of a Sc. Angler 53:
The only fish I caught . . . took the bob fly nearest me.m.Sc. 1994 Herald 27 Aug 28:
We were using 10 ft trout rods with six or eight pound nylon; two flies, Butchers in variety on the bob and Silver Stoat's Tails on the tail.
