CHAPTEE II. 



DRY FLY-FISHING. 



As the season advances and trout become 

 warier, the method of dry fly-fishing, so much in 

 vogue in England, may often be useful. 



We suspect that a prime reason why this 

 method is so little used here in the North, is not 

 so much conservatism nor laziness, nor even the 

 unsuitability of our waters, as an idea that 

 special tackle and flies must be got for its prac- 

 tice an idea quite fallacious. Ordinary flies 

 tied on gut are at least as good for the purpose 

 as those dressed upon eyed hooks, so far as our 

 experience goes, except that greater care has to 

 be taken during the drying process, lest the gut 

 at the neck of the hook become cracked and the 

 fly whip off, or even worse, break in the mouth 

 of of course a big one. 



What is requisite in flies for dry fly-fishing 

 is as accurate an imitation of the fly on which 

 trout are feeding as can be made, accurate imita- 

 tion being an essential in this case ; and yet this 

 need not be made a hard and fast rule, as a pro- 



C 25 



