108 CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME. 



Angler : When can you be ready to start ? 



Tourist : I am ready now. "VVe have only three rods in the party, and 

 all three are to be used up at the lake. All I need is to get a lunch 

 put up — that won 't take me long. 



Angler: AVell, let's pull out. We have about half an hour's walk 

 before we get to the best part of the river, but a machine will bring us 

 back in the afternoon. 



Not fishing yourself, you will have a good chance to really find out 

 something useful about the art. Usually, when anyone comes out with 

 me, they insist on bringing their own rod. The result is, that after 

 about five minutes of instruction, they want to fish themselves; as a 

 consecjueuce they learn very little. 



Tourist : I come from Idaho. There we have very good fishing, pro- 

 vided you get well away from the towns. 



While we were sitting around the fire last night, this dry-fiy talk 

 came up ; it mystified me, for I had never heard of it before. Now, 

 just exactly, what is dry-fly fishing? 



Angler : I dare say you have noticed that the various insects, such as 

 flies, beetles, or grasshoppers, always float on the surface of the water. 

 Now, the imitations of these insects, known as artificial flies, are made 

 of silk, feathers, fur and other substances. In order to catch the fish, 

 these materials are ballasted with a hook. Now, as long as we can 

 keep our artificial fly dry, it will float on the surface and thus be in 

 much the same position as the natural insect. 



Dry-fly fishing simply consists of keeping the fly dry, and if it gets 

 wet, of drying it again as quickly as possible. 



Tourist : It sounds simple, but how can it be done ? I know that the 

 first time I cast a new fly into the water it floats, but the second or 

 third cast sinks the fly. 



Angler: First of all, we put some oil on the fly to keep the water oil* 

 it. Then, we grease the line, so that the line itself will float. And 

 then, if the fly does get wet, which is not exactly an uncommon experi- 

 ence, instead of returning the fly to the water, on the next cast, we 

 check the fly before it gets there and make a series of false casts back- 

 wards and forwards in the air. These false casts drive off any moisture 

 that has collected on the fly and on the line ; so that when we do return 

 the fly to the water, it is practically as dry as it was at flrst. 



Tourist : We got in yesterday and had lunch at the hotel. After- 

 wards, we drove down in this direction and went fishing. I noticed 

 swarms of grasshoppers on the water. The trout were taking them, 

 but they would not look at our flies. We even caught some 'hoppers 

 and tried them, but it was no good; so we packed up and came back 

 to the hotel. Why was it we couldn't catch any flsh? 



Angler: Well, when you tried flies, you were trying to coax the fish 

 away from a very tempting morsel — -viz, the grasshopper— with some- 

 thing that did not attract them at all. And when you used grass- 

 hoppers, I dare say, you noticed that your grasshoppers always sank 

 below the surface of the water, whereas an unhooked 'hopper floated 

 on the surface. Then again, the leaders you were using may have been 

 too heavy or thick. These trout are very wise. They are flshed for 

 continuously all through the season; it is only natural to suppose that 



