140 TROUT FISHING 



time, but afterwards I realised that I had tried wet 

 fly and dry fly in vain, and had finally scored by 

 the use of what was really minor tactics. 



To the really expert wet-fly man I expect minor 

 tactics displayed in this way is nothing new; pro- 

 bably that it is his natural way of fishing in circum- 

 stances resembling those described. If he finds trout 

 rising steadily he no doubt approaches them with 

 very accurate casting and generally with a single fly. 

 I should now endeavour to do the like, but until 

 I had that lesson I used to blunder on with my two 

 or three flies and often to wonder why visibly feed- 

 ing fish gave such poor response. The fact that they 

 are comparatively rare in mountain streams owing 

 to the nature of the water encouraged this. If I 

 failed in one place I merely went on to the next, 

 so I never learnt anything about such fish. 



There is, by the way, one more objection to minor 

 tactics which is worth considering, and that is that 

 it probably makes the fish shyer than they would 

 otherwise be. I do not think it is possible yet to 

 prove this one way or the other, because the art 

 is comparatively new, and at most has only been 

 employed occasionally as an alternative to dry-fly 

 fishing. My belief, however, is that so far from 

 making the fish shyer it might tend to improve their 

 nerves. If you hammer away at bulging trout 

 with a dry fly you are sure to make them suspicious 



