DRY-FLY MEDITATIONS 97 



These seven boxes pretty well exhaust the list of dry 

 flies that absolutely have to be taken out. Another 

 small box or so will doubtless be added as the season 

 advances, for odd lots of flies have to be acquired now 

 and then, and each lot means another little cardboard 

 receptacle. Then we come to wet flies, for there are 

 days when there is no rise, or when the fish are bulging 

 and a fly has to be offered to them beneath the surface. 

 This necessitates a fly-book, and an eighth box contain- 

 ing wet flies tied on eyed hooks in case of emergencies 

 a moderate allowance on the whole. Then there is 

 a cast case, with transparent leaves, so that one can 

 select the right cast at sight. But a doubt as to the 

 preservative quality of transparent leaves necessitates a 

 wash-leather pouch with two pockets, one of which is 

 meant for points. I feel better able to trust a cast out 

 of this, which is why the casts have overflowed into the 

 second pocket, leaving no room for points. And that, 

 again, is why there is another pouch with one pocket 

 full of points. The fact that this has only one pocket 

 explains the third wash-leather pouch, whose pocket is 

 also full of points. All these must be taken out, because 

 it is never certain what one may not want, and it is 

 absurd to possess the very thing required in an emer- 

 gency and to have left it at home. 



Then there are reels, the first with a dry-fly line 

 greased and ready for action, the second also similarly 

 prepared, so that when the first line gets sodden and 

 refuses to float any longer, the second may be put on 

 without loss of time. This is a useful provision, and 

 the tin of ointment is to guard against the contingency 

 of both becoming sodden. The third reel contains an 

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