TROUT AND GRAYLING. 45 



in acquiring this manipulation. The larger the 

 fly the more resistance it meets with in the air ; 

 this resistance causes it to make a better curve, 

 and the danger of smacking it off is lessened. 

 A Palmer, made as shown in plate 19, is not 

 easily lost in this manner. 



An attempt to describe all the precautions 

 and manipulations requisite for throwing a fly 

 successfully and gracefully would be as hopeless 

 a task as that of trying to teach dancing by 

 words. It must be abundantly evident that the 

 fly should drop as lightly as possible on the 

 water, and that an awkward unmannerly splash 

 must inevitably mar the illusion. 



Weather and Water. 



The best days to select for fly-fishing are the 

 warm and cloudy, with a gentle breeze from 

 South or West causing a ripple upon the water ; 

 by which the fish is not only prevented from 

 seeing the fisherman so plainly as in smooth 

 water, but is also deprived of so good an oppor- 

 tunity of detecting the fly-maker's artifice. 



The water after a flood sometimes remains for 

 several days too turbid for fly-fishing. When it 

 is very low in its bed and clear, the circum- 

 stances are also unpropitious, and success is ob- 

 tained with difficulty. When the water is un- 

 usually high, though it be not discoloured, the 



