FLY-FISHING. 271 



fishermen in this country understand, and which 

 cannot be too often enforced; that is, the advisabili- 

 ty of using small flies, much smaller than those or- 

 dinarily found in the tackle-shops or in the books 

 of anglers. This is almost a secret, so little is it 

 appreciated. In rough water or a heavy ripple, put 

 on large flies, but in confined waters and on still 

 days use the midges, or to speak more correctly, 

 have the common flies made of the midge size. The 

 later the season, and the brighter the sky and stream 

 or pond, the more imperative is this rule. Let the 

 young man write it on the tablets of his heart, and 

 when he has practised he will never depart from it. 

 Obeying it, he will fill his creel when his less educat- 

 ed brother goes home fishless and wretched, hav- 

 ing lost all hope and faith in the things above and 

 on the face of and in the waters under the earth. 



A fly "dibbled," so to speak, along the surface 

 will be found almost always more killing than one 

 drawn along underneath. There are no rules for 

 taking trout which the capricious creatures will not 

 often disregard, so that if the recognized method 

 fails, resort must be had to the exception, but when 

 it can be done, if the upper dropper is kept on the 

 top, so that it will occasionally jump and hop ex- 

 actly like the real insect, and the gut attachment 

 being out of water remain invisible to the eye of 

 the fish, the latter will take it with added con- 

 fidence. It is true, that he will not invariably suc- 

 ceed in getting the hook in his mouth, and the 

 angler may often miss him, but he will rise, when 



