138 TROUT FISHING 



desirable in this kind of fishing. If you can watch the 

 trout you get an idea as to what he is doing, and can 

 pretty soon make up your mind whether a dry or wet 

 fly is more likely to suit him. And if you decide on the 

 wet you have a very good chance of knowing accur- 

 ately whether and when it is taken. You cannot 

 (at least I cannot ; very keen eyesight may stand a 

 better chance) see the fly itself under water, but 

 you know pretty well where it is, and if you see 

 the trout turn to right or left and open and shut his 

 mouth at about the right moment, you tighten up 

 with a good deal of confidence that the fly is in the 

 said mouth. Which generally proves to be the case. 

 It is a fascinating sight to see a good fish come up 

 at a dry fly, but I am not sure that the spectacle 

 of the same fish turning under water to one's nymph 

 is not even more attractive. It has an element of 

 sporting chance in it which appeals to human nature. 

 Minor tactics, if the foregoing account of it be 

 allowed correct, is obviously a great advance on the 

 old convention of wet-fly fishing in the chalk stream. 

 But to my mind it is also, or may be, a great advance 

 on the old convention of wet-fly fishing in mountain 

 streams also, even on the upstream method which 

 it so much resembles. I remember vividly one 

 occasion when I was grateful for minor tactics on 

 such a stream. It was fairly early in the season, 

 but the weather was summerlike, and an evening 



