Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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About this entry:
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.