40 THE SCIENCE OF DRY FLY FISHING. 



but one thing is certain, he came at my fly. I flick 

 my line backward and forward twice, and it is quite dry 

 again, so I will try once more. There ! just as before, the 

 fly floated down beautifully, but I missed him again. I will 

 try him just once more ; no luck ! so we will now give him a 

 rest and try the opposite side just by the bank. The water 

 is deep and dark there, the current slow, and, as the fish 

 are not on the shallow yet, if there is one there he will be 

 a big one. You see that I now stoop well down, as much 

 out of sight as possible, when I cast, because I am, from 

 here, more noticeable to the fish opposite than to the one we 

 have just missed. (See "Vision of Fish," page eighty-four.) 

 I have no luck ; three tries, but he is not to be tempted. 

 We will try our first friend again. I can stand upright again, 

 being almost directly behind him. Observe, I dry my line 

 and fly by three preliminary casts ; once more the fly alights 

 just above the opening and floats down, but this time I 

 get no notice at all from the trout. Once more, failure again! 

 Well, as I don't like to leave a rising fish, we will try 

 another fly, and this time one of a warmer tint. Often it 

 is a good plan, when the fish have not started really feeding 

 on the fly of yesterday, to try a fly with red heckles. So you 

 see this fly in my hat that I am going to use ; it is called 

 the Red Quill. It has double starling wings, red heckle, and 

 quill body. I now press the spear of the rod into the turf 

 again, and my hands are free. You see these small but 

 sharp scissors in my knife, which I have secured by a chain 



