270 FLY-FISHIKG. 



and the upper dropper the largest. This is especi- 

 ally the rule in pond-fishing, where it is essential 

 that the lure should fall as lightly as possible, and 

 that can only be done when the size and length of 

 the casting-line accord with the weight and size of 

 the line. 



Some people will tell you, and some writers have 

 written, that the largest fly should be used as a 

 stretcher, in order, as they allege, to keep the line 

 taut. This will do well enough in narrow streams, 

 when it is desirable to trail the flies on the top of 

 the water, and where the current is sufficiently 

 strong to hide the deception under a lively ripple, 

 but in delicate casting such an arrangement would 

 be a fatal error. The test of the fly-fisherman is 

 proved, when he tries what he can do in a perfect 

 calm on a pond. Then if he is not a master, he 

 will find out his failings to his own disgusted satis- 

 faction, and to the happiness of the trout, who will 

 turn up their dainty noses at his want of skill. If 

 the angler cannot send his three flies fifty feet, or 

 indeed sixty, if he would be at the head of the pro- 

 fession, and drop them like three tiny dimples upon 

 the placid surface, he may as well give up and go to 

 practising. If the line falls in a tangle, or strikes 

 the water at the same place as the flies, or if it does 

 not go straight out as well as drop like a thread of 

 gossamer, it might as well be kept reeled up, ex- 

 cept for the advantage which comes to every man 

 from finding out his deficiences. 



There is one point which not more than a dozen 



