INTRODUCTORY NOTE 



one natural insect able to float on the surface, there 

 are hundreds which cannot float. 



Because of this fact, I believe it to be the height 

 of folly to fish exclusively with dry flies on the sur- 

 face. Wet fishing with two or three accurately 

 copied insects is in every way as effective on the 

 average American stream. I do think the dry-fly 

 method is excellent on large pools, and more or less 

 placid water ; but the trouble is that trout prefer to 

 lie under a rock where turbulent water flows above, 

 from which in a runway they get insects alive or 

 drowned as they go swiftly by. 



Since this appeared in magazine form I have 

 read Mr. La Branche's "Dry Fly in Rapid Wa- 

 ters," and I quite agree that anglers can wade into 

 the lower end of a rapid, and with a very short cast 

 float down a cocked dry fly a few yards toward them 

 with deadly effect. I have seen Mr. La Branche 

 do it, and I have done it frequently myself. 



In general fishing the method is merely a matter 

 of preference, and is really of very little importance 

 compared to offering the right artificial that will 

 make trout fancy is its regular food. 



