EARLY EXPERIENCES 5 



some discussion among anglers, and some of 

 these / discussions found permanent place in 

 angling literature. The discussion, however, 

 seems always to have been confined to the 

 question of position and seems never to have 

 been extended to the manner of fishing the flies. 

 Individual characteristics or experiences led 

 some to advocate a certain manner of manipu- 

 lating the dropper-fly and others to recommend 

 the sinking of the tail-fly to a greater depth; 

 but the flies seem always to have been manipu- 

 lated upon the theory that to be effective they 

 must be constantly in motion. It seems to 

 have been conceded by all that the flies should 

 be always under the control and subject to the 

 direction of the rod, thus enabling the angler to 

 simulate living insects by twitching them over or 

 under the surface of the water a practice that 

 is the exact opposite of the method of the dry 

 fly fisher, who casts a single fly lightly upon the 

 surface of the water and permits it to float with 

 the current over or near the spot where he knows 

 or believes a fish to lie. 



Many expert wet fly anglers in this country 

 have been using the floating fly for years, but 

 most of them use it only on water where they 

 consider it may prove more effective than the 



