The Fishing of Waters with the Wet Fly 55 



full. I hate a muddy river, personally ; 

 but, at times, big things are done when it 

 is porter-coloured, fining off into claret- 

 coloured. For my own part, I prefer fishing 

 an absolutely clear " water " or " river. " In 

 a prolonged drought (to take the opposite 

 extreme), trout seldom take the fly well, 

 from a variety of reasons which it would 

 take time to enumerate ; the fact remains. 



2. My own favourite sky is one too 

 seldom met with ; one wherein the clouds 

 are very high, termed by Scottish anglers 

 " a grey day.' 7 In very cold weather (espe- 

 cially in the early spring) a little genial 

 sunshine "a blinky day" is often very 

 advisable ; and sometimes at that early 

 season a sunny morning, ending by a cloudy 

 afternoon, proves propitious, for obvious 

 reasons. 



3. Personally, I prefer a wind which 

 meets the current of the river or " water." 



In the first place, especially where the 

 water flows through any gorge, or narrow 

 valley, when the wind is blowing directly 

 down stream, the amount of wind required 

 to make a really good ripple is often very 

 considerable ; so considerable indeed, that a 

 man who uses fine-drawn gut, has hard 

 work before him, if he wishes to fish 



