CHAPTER VIII. 



THE DRY FLY. 



And lightly on the dimpling eddy fling 

 The hypocritic fly's unruffled wing. 



The Anglers: Eight Dialogues in Verse. 



Thomas Scott. 1758. 



OMEWHERE during the first 

 half of the nineteenth century, 

 in the fulness of time, heralded 

 by many precursors who just 

 failed to reach completeness, the 

 dry fly was first cast upon the 

 waters. It forms the last and most notable 

 of the four landmarks in the history of fishing, 

 for without it the other three, imitation of the 

 natural insect, upstream fishing and fishing for 

 individual fish are imperfect and incomplete. 

 What is the dry fly and what is the secret of 

 its hold over the imagination ? The explana- 

 tion of what it is presents no difficulty, but its 

 imaginative appeal is a different matter. 

 Certain flies, such as mayflies, duns, alders, 

 sedges, stoneflies and smuts at certain periods 

 of their lives sit on the surface and are carried 



