38 ROD & CREEL 



To become proficient in dry fly fishing you must be suf- 

 ficiently expert in casting, so that your rod, line, hand and 

 eye work in such harmony that you have not to think of them 

 but only of your fly and your fish. The fly must float as if it 

 were the natural insect, and to do so must be dry. They are 

 specially made for this purpose and are oiled or vaporised, 

 but always require extra drying after each cast by making six 

 or seven false casts in the air. Then the current has to be 

 studied so that the fly will float in the proper direction and at 

 the. same time you must keep your line sufficiently taut to be 

 able to strike. 



The dry fly fisherman does not as a rule make a cast until 

 he has discovered a feeding fish. There is, however, no reason 

 why you should not do so if you want to practice or exercise. 



Grayling Fishing. The grayling is caught almost entirely 

 on the fly and is fished for in exactly the same way as for trout. 



They will take almost any of the ordinary trout flies, such 

 as the Black Gnat, March Brown, etc., but they must be tied on 

 very small hooks compared to those used for trout. A No. 14 

 would be quite big enough. 



In playing a grayling you have to use great care not to 

 handle them roughly as they are extremely tender mouthed and 

 the hook is easily pulled out. 



