82 THE DRY FLY AND FAST WATER 



ine sport than a dozen larger ones might have 

 yielded taken in any other way, because of the 

 circumstances under which it was accomplished. 

 I may have had a possible advantage over him, 

 because a floating fly had, probably, never been 

 cast on the stream before. Aside from this 

 fact, it cannot be said that the element of luck 

 entered into the affair at all, except, perhaps, 

 in so far as it enabled me to deliver my fly so 

 many times without mistake. I have, however, 

 taken many other and larger fish in practically 

 the same manner and by the employment of the 

 same tactics, and know the method to be sound 

 in theory and practice. For the solace of the 

 beginner who may attempt to practise the 

 method, let me add that in the beginning the 

 fish I took were, probably, a very small number 

 of those from which all thoughts of feeding were 

 driven by my bungling. 



If a trout lying in a small pool and in plain 

 view, as was the one whose story has just been 

 told, could be induced to come up through six 

 feet of water to take the fly, is it not fair to 

 assume that an unseen fish may also be forced 

 to rise by the same tactics ? Of course, in the 

 case of an unseen fish, the angler labours under 

 some disadvantage, because he is casting some- 



