122 FLY FISHING FOR TEOUT. 



casting. There is no doubt about that, for it 

 is the taking of fish with a fly that floats, which 

 takes them because it floats. But it still lacks 

 the drying of the fly. 



The next passages must be quoted at length. 

 They are from Pulman's Vade Mecum of Fly 

 Fishing for Trout. There are three editions of 

 it, 1841, 1846 and 1851. This is what he wrote 

 in 1841. He notices that the ephemeridse sit 

 upon the water, and that the trout station 

 themselves just below the surface, and gently 

 lift their noses as the flies sail over. Now a 

 soaked artificial fly sinks, and thus escapes the 

 notice of the fish who are looking upwards ; but 

 'if the wet and heavy fly be exchanged for a dry 

 and light one, and passed in artist-like style 

 over the feeding fish, it will, partly from the 

 simple circumstance of its buoyancy, be taken, 

 in nine cases out of ten, as greedily as the living 

 insect itself.' To insure this, however, it must 

 be a good imitation both as to colour and size, 

 for otherwise it will startle rather than attract. 



The whole passage is an admirable piece of 

 original observation. But it still lacks the 

 finishing touch, which was not supplied until 

 the appearance of the third edition in 1851. 

 The edition of 1846 only copies that of 1841. 

 That of 1851 takes the matter much further. 

 It is not enough to have a good imitation. The 

 fisherman must learn that something more than 

 a good copy of the fly is necessary and that 

 under certain circumstances not the form only 



