WET-FLY FISHING 43 



successively to each of the many httle runs, eddies, 

 channels, and slack waters behind boulders, which his 

 experience teaches are likely to hold feeding fish. It 

 is just the experience gained by such definite fishing 

 that the dry-fly purist who throws to none but feeding 

 fish would lack, if he overcame his prejudices and 

 essayed to throw the wet fly on Northern waters. 



The obvious natural law which causes fish to lie 

 head upstream should convince the reader that no 

 undue stress has been laid upon the importance of 

 fishing upstream, and that that method should be 

 rigidly adhered to on aU occasions, except those 

 previously mentioned. 



That trout have exceptionally keen eyesight, no one 

 who has ever walked along the banks of a trout stream 

 will deny. How then can the least thoughtful expect 

 to creel decent fish with the river in normal condition, 

 if he stands with the fish below him, or, for that matter, 

 stands anywhere within their very wide range of 

 vision, a range so wide that, if a circle be described 

 with the head of a trout for the centre, .only about 

 one-sixth of the circumference of such a circle, and that 

 immediately behind, would appear to be outside the 

 range of vision of the fish ? 



From these well-known facts it will be obvious, even 

 to the uninitiated, that the best approach for the 

 angler bent on capturing trout in clear water is from 

 behind. Yet, astonishing as it may seem (and for the 



