CHAPTER I. 



IN PRAISE OF THE DRY FLY. 



HE methods of the "Dry Fly" Fisherman, as compared with 

 those of his brother of the " Wet Fly," are absolutely 

 distinct, and demand totally different characteristics. It is 

 I idle to compare them, or to praise one to the disparagement 

 of the other. The sooner this kind of carping criticism is 

 entirely abandoned the better. The dry fly purist may argue 

 until he is black in the face ; he will never convert the wet 

 fly devotee. Nor, on the other hand, is there the slightest 

 chance of the South Country chalk stream Angler being induced to 

 give up his favourite form of sport. Quite apart from the fact that 

 different waters require different treatment, the two methods appeal to 

 absolutely different temperaments. Take for example the wet fly man. 

 He wends his way, probably down stream, fishing all the fishable water 

 before him, carefully searching with his flies all the quick water and 

 stickles ; placing his flies deftly near the eddy by that half-sunken rock, 

 round which the swirl comes, forming a convenient resting-place for a 

 goodly trout ; or with careful underhand cast searches under the over- 

 hanging branches of yonder tree ; always alert and on the move, 

 leaving untried no likely holt, keeping as far as possible out of sight, 

 and showing himself to be a master of his art. But he has always a 

 roving commission. He may, of course, elect to fish up stream, and 

 many an expert in that line may be met with ; but, even then, his art 

 differs radically from that of the angler with the floating fly. 



B 2 



