THE ADVANTAGE OF WET FLY FISHING. 59 



the Otter on the Rolle Waters, etc., etc., on a fine July day, 

 when the water is as clear as crystal and the surface as 

 smooth as glass, it is quite useless to attempt the wet fly 

 method, and yet perhaps some four hours later, when the 

 water is thickened by a passing thunderstorm, the wet fly 

 is the only one likely to secure trout ; that is, until the water 

 clears sufficiently to allow the dry fly to be once more seen 

 by the fish. 



And if sport is wanted, and opportunities of fishing 

 are few, it would be a mistake for the dry fly man to reel 

 up his line when a temporary thickness of the water shuts 

 out his fly from the ken of the fish and stops his dry 

 fly fishing. If the rain has been a warm one the trout are 

 sure to be feeding, and probably on drifting matter, such as 

 the drowned sub-imago, etc., mostly toward the bottom of 

 the stream. It is much wiser, therefore, for the angler to 

 put on a wet fly cast, and, sinking his flies well below the 

 surface, to fish his way down stream ; he is very likely to pick 

 up some good fish, instead of losing half or perhaps more 

 of his precious day's fishing. And now we have finished our 

 luncheon, and before I go home, I will show you yet another 

 way of taking a trout. You can see that not a fish is moving, 

 everything is baking hot. The sub-imago is sheltering amid 

 the grass, and the pupa amid the weeds ; both dislike this 

 bright and torrid glare, and while the former is getting ready 

 for his joyous but very brief honeymoon existence, the latter 

 is clinging to his wavy and shadowy retreat, and waiting 



