42 ADVANTAGES OF DRY FLY FISHING 



without interfering with that portion of the line and 

 cast floating on the water near the fly. He thus allows 

 the fly to float easily and naturally down-stream. 

 Any drag or movement imparted to a dry fly while on 

 smooth water is fatal, and will most certainly scare the 

 ordinary trout. 



The dry fly fisherman, all circumstances being alike, 

 is far less likely to be seen by the trout than is the wet 

 fly fisherman, and consequently can take his sport 

 more at his ease. For he of the wet fly who fishes up- 

 stream has to use a shorter line, and is consequently 

 nearer the fish, while he who fishes down-stream is 

 faced by the trout, and has to exercise the greatest 

 caution in order to escape observation. Trout lie 

 invariably with their heads pointed up-stream or 

 against the current, and are in consequence looking 

 up-stream and away from the dry fly artist, but towards 

 the wet fly man. Trout can easily see from a point right 

 ahead to an angle of 150 degrees on either side in the 

 plane in which they are lying, leaving an angle of about 

 60 degrees in which the fisherman may escape observa- 

 tion, provided he is not perched too much over them, 

 so that in fishing outside this zone of safety he must 

 endeavour to be as near the surface of the water as 

 possible (see "The Vision of Trout," p. 98). This 

 position of the trout facing up-stream is also an im- 

 portant advantage to the angler when fishing dry fly, 

 as his hook will be pulled back into the mouth of the 

 trout, instead of being pulled out and from the mouth 

 of the trout, as in the case of down-stream fishing. 



