34 THE SCIENCE OF DRY FLY FISHING. 



fly. I will catch him to make certain. Watch how I do 

 it. I slip the net into the water just in front of the fly, 

 which floats into it. Here he is, clinging to the muslin. Now 

 look at these two flies carefully. You can see at once that 

 both are just like the Blue Quill fly on my line, which is one 

 of the best known flies on English waters. If you fit this 

 watchmaker's magnifying glass into your eye you will see 

 the colour and appearance of its delicate wings, its body 

 and legs, more distinctly.* 



Now we will see if there is any rise. No, there are 

 no signs of a move yet, -as the pupae which will form to-day's 

 hatch are possibly waiting among the weeds until the water 

 becomes a little warmer, or perhaps altered by some meteoro- 

 logical change, before rising to the surface, and therefore 

 the trout have not been as yet excited by their appearance. 



We will now continue our walk down to our starting 

 point at the lowest end of our water. What ! You saw a 

 rise ? Where ? Oh, I see. That is not a trout, but a water 

 rat. See him working his way up stream among the 

 rushes and under the long grass of the bank. Notice how 

 he makes a long, slanting, rippling line from the bank out into 

 the stream instead of the detached ripple or ring peculiar to 

 the rise of a fish. The rise of a trout varies in size, from the 

 most delicate circular dimple on the surface, to the splash 



* If a fly is caught the name of which is unknown to the student, it should be 

 placed in a small specimen bottle and either shown to a friendly authority or forwarded 

 to the retailer with whom the student may deal. By this means a general entomo- 

 logical knowledge will be obtained. A single watchmaker's glass is always a most 

 useful adjunct to carry in your fishing bag, also a small butterfly net (see page xxiv)- 



