TROUT FLY-FISHING. 333 



the weight of the line thus increased, helps the cast. If it 

 could be accomplished, the great desideratum would be, to 

 keep the line wet and the flies dry. I have seen anglers 

 succeed so well in their efforts to do this by the means just 

 mentioned, and by whipping the moisture from their flies, 

 that the stretcher and dropper would fall so lightly, and 

 remain so long on the surface, that a fish would rise and 

 deliberately take the fly before it sank. 



One instance of this kind is fresh in my memory: it 

 occurred at a pool beneath the fall of a dam on the Williwe- 

 mock, at a low stage of water — none running over. The fish 

 were shy and refused every fly I offered them, when my 

 friend put on a Grannom for a stretcher, and a minute Jenny 

 Spinner for a dropper. His leader was of the finest gut and 

 his flies fresh, and by cracking the moisture from them 

 between each throw, he would lay them so lightly on the 

 glassy surface, that a brace of Trout would take them at 

 almost every cast, and before they sank or were drawn away. 

 He had tied these flies and made his whip especially for his 

 evening cast on this pool, and as the fish would not notice 

 mine, I was obliged to content myself with landing his fish, 

 which in a half hour counted several dozen. Here was an 

 exemplification of the advantage of keeping one's flies dry, 

 and the fallacy of the theory of not allowing the line to fall 

 on the water, for in this instance I noticed that a fourth or a 

 third of it touched the surface at every cast. 



It seems to me that there is no more appropriate place than 

 this to say a few words about the " routine" and " strict imi- 

 tation system," which some English writers advocate so 

 strenuously. The former, that is, certain flies for certain 

 months, or for each month, is now considered an exploded 

 theory by practical anglers who wish to divest fly-fishing of 

 all pedantic humbug ; for the fly that is good in April is 



