100 THE SCIENCE OF DRY FLY FISHING. 



the water. But there are no flies visible, and the trout are 

 not rising. How, then, are you going to determine the correct 

 fly to use ? It is by no means a bad plan although not 

 usually adopted in order to save time, to place one of 

 these flies, say the Olive Quill, on the end of your cast, 

 then three feet up the cast, with a very short end, attach 

 the Blue Quill, and again, three feet further up, a Black 

 Gnat. Oil the cast and each fly and treat this cast of three 

 flies as you would a single dry fly cast, and fish up stream. 

 I have often, by adopting this method and fishing the likely 

 spots, discovered a fly which the fish will take, and by 

 discarding the other two, and fishing dry fly with the 

 remaining one, have saved much time and caught fish. 



Even when the fish are rising and flies are about, it 

 is often difficult to find out the fly they are taking, and 

 when, for experimental purposes, you may, as above advised, 

 be fishing with three dry flies and should happen to catch 

 a rising fish, examine the food in the upper part of his 

 gullet. The chances are that the sub-imago form of some 

 water insect will be found there, as well as the pupae of the 

 same insect, and if the fly on which you have taken this fish 

 does not secure you trout when it is fished as a single dry fly, 

 try a specimen of the sub-imago found in the fish's gullet. 



THE DRY FLY FISHERMAN'S FLIES. 



I should advise you always to get " eyed double winged " 

 flies, the eye of the hook turned down. Use a large fly in 



