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in paruttiu, do iiut cunliim tlie wouderful " discovery " as to 

 its fioating'i properties. I am sorry, honestly sorry, to have 

 to condemn this bogus story of the " floating hay-stack." 

 My experiments extended over tliree whole weeks' fisliing, 

 iu the which I used quite fifty or sixty different flies, some 

 soaked and others painted with the oil, and the trout shook 

 their heads violently at these nasty flavoured morsels of fur 

 and feather ! At flrst I fancied that perfectly new flies 

 floated the Letter for being treated with ])etroleum, but upon 

 actual test, the new fly was found to keep above water quite 

 as long as the others that were oiled. Those of us who use 

 eyed hooks usually accumulate a goodly number of big 

 g-overnors, coachmen, alders, and such like flies that have 

 lost their floating powers through the natural oil on the 

 feathers being washed out by much use. I carefully 

 treated a lot of these old servants to the paraffin process, and 

 confess that my disappointment at the results was great^ — 

 the flies went down like stones ! So much for the promised 

 " revolution in dry fly-fishing " — it has not come yet ! If 

 this so-called discovery had done all that its inventors 

 claimed for it, the pupil in dry fly-fishing; would still have 

 much to learn. If some one would invent an automatic 

 winding winch, that would keep a tight line as the floating 

 fly comes down stream, then might the noble army of 

 duffers rejoice, for then, and not till then, will they catch 

 fish! 



Vaseline applied to the body and hackles — ^but not the 

 wings — ^is far superior to petroleum, but I only use it for 

 the big absorbent bodied flies. Yaseline is far and away 

 the best stuff to put upon your winch line in dry fly-fishing, 

 but 13 am compelled to admit that it is ruinous to silk lines. 

 I don't profess to explain the why or the wherefore, but the 

 fact remains that I have used up four new winch lines 

 during the three seasons that I have employed vaseline upon 

 them. And yet I go on using it, because one dressing ^^dll 

 last a whole day, which is more than can be said of deer's 

 fat, or any other lubricant with which I am acquainted. 

 Lines ought not to be greased for wet fly work, either for 

 salmon or trout, as it fishes the flies too near the surface. 



