TROUT FLY-FISHING IN AMERICA 



expert dry-fly fisherman to be the angler who can cast a; 

 good fly, and who can cause the fish to rise to it, irre- 

 spective of whether or not he can land his fish. 



This idea is impressed upon me when I read from 

 time to time the articles written by them, and which ap- 

 pear in many of our sporting papers. 



As an illustration of this attitude, I will mention what 

 a well-known angler and writer on the subject has to say 

 when speaking about dry-fly fishing. 



"Having prepared a gossamer leader, . . . preferring to 

 risk a smash to not getting a rise, ... I dropped the small 

 silver sedge, which I used, because it could be more plainly kept 

 in sight, ..." 



If these words mean the idea they convey to me then 

 they must imply that this angler-writer, first, was fishing 

 with the idea of making the fish rise to his fly ; second, with 

 the idea that he was fishing with a leader that was known 

 to be so light and lacking in strength that it was liable to 

 give way when a fish of any size was struck or while it 

 was being played; and, third, that he was not fishing with 

 the idea of landing his fish. 



To call such an angler an expert fly fisherman, al- 

 though he might be the most expert of casters, is certainly 

 misapplying the term in the extreme. 



Imagine giving any angler the title of expert fly fisher- 

 man, who, before ever a cast is made, knowingly selects 

 such a weak leader that it is liable to a smash if a fair- 



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