160 THE DRY FLY AND FAST WATER 



quality and size fish that would be creditable 

 to the angler's skill under almost any circum- 

 stance of capture. I hazard the opinion, how- 

 ever, that they derive less real sport from their 

 method than does the angler who fishes with a 

 single dry and floating fly, imparts no motion 

 to it, and presents an imitation of a natural 

 insect which the trout is at liberty to inspect 

 and, if his suspicion is aroused by the transpar- 

 ency of the fraud or because of some mistake in 

 delivery, to reject. The dry fly angler must 

 know quite as much of the haunts and habits 

 of the fish as the wet fly angler and, to cast his 

 fly successfully, must have the greater skill. 

 Above all, the dry fly method is the more fas- 

 cinating, because the angler actually sees the 

 rise and the taking of the fly, the sense of sight 

 as well as the sense of touch conducing to his 

 pleasurable emotion. His imagination and all 

 ardent anglers have imagination will immedi- 

 ately come into play, and he will find himself 

 convinced that the imitation has really deceived 

 the fish into believing that a living insect lay 

 upon the water. 



I venture to suggest the fancy that the taking 

 of a trout with a nondescript fly of blue or red 

 the Parmacheene Belle, the Jenny Lind, or 



