TROUT FLY-FISHING IN AMERICA 



Wet-Fly Fishing: 



Wet-fly fishing consists of all the features of dry-fly 

 fishing, except that especially constructed flies are not 

 often used nor is anything applied as a general thing to 

 the fly, leader and line to make them float. 



Wet-fly fishing, however, embraces one more feature 

 or requirement than dry-fly fishing, namely, the playing 

 or fishing of the fly upon or under the surface of the water. 



You will observe when casting the wet-fly, if you have 

 not already done so, that trout seldom rise to the fly when 

 it first strikes the water after the cast is made. As a mat- 

 ter of fact, after years of experience in wet-fly fishing for 

 trout, on many kinds of water, I am prepared to state as 

 my opinion that such a thing does not happen once in 

 thirty casts. 



Therefore, it is not alone the act of casting the fly 

 lightly and well or "delicately and accurately" upon the 

 water that is the means whereby trout are induced to rise 

 to the fly in the first instance. 



Consequently, the principal element to master in 

 wet-fly fishing, in order to make trout rise, is "the play- 

 ing or fishing of the fly* upon or under the surface of the 

 water after the cast has been made. 



This I realize is not the theory or belief of some dry- 

 fly fishermen when speaking about wet-fly fishing, but 

 would any wet-fly angler think of going to a dry-fly 

 "purist'* for information as to the most important element 

 in wet-fly fishing when there are so many fully qualified 

 experts in the wet-fly ranks? 



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