Getting Out the Fly Books 



have been confused fly-fishing proper and 

 what, for the sake of a name, I have called 

 feather-baiting. In both, the lure is simi- 

 lar as to materials and structure; but the 

 latter method in its principles and prac- 

 tice resembles fly-fishing proper no more 

 than it does minnow-casting. In fact, 

 the "fly-minnow," or "Alexandra," would 

 serve very well as a type of this style of 

 fishing. Between the two styles are many 

 intermediate shades, but typical examples 

 only are taken for illustration. 



By fly-fishing proper I mean the method 

 of the purist as practised, let us say, upon a 

 Hampshire chalk-stream, with water clear 

 and fine. As nearly as painstaking search 

 for materials and exactness in tying can 

 avail, his flies are reproductions in size, 

 shape, and color of the actual insects usu- 

 ally found upon the stream to be fished. 

 They are indeed marvels of delicate imita- 

 tion. Upon the finest of casting lines he 

 places usually but one fly, in order that it 

 may float down stream in the most natu- 

 ral manner possible. Nor will he indulge 

 in any aimless casting, any " chuck-and- 

 chance-it " work, as he would style it. 

 Patiently he awaits the rising of a feeding 

 fish, marks its place as accurately as he 

 can, gets well below, and casts his fly, still 



