14 DRY-FLY FISHING 



Night-fishing has its delights : great baskets can 

 be killed with the fly, the fly and maggot, the dock- 

 grub, and the minnow. Nevertheless, it is entirely 

 unnecessary to be on the river at night. Many 

 anglers have discovered that it is possible to capture 

 more trout and better trout in the full light of day, 

 and moreover obtain more enjoyment in their 

 capture, than ever they used to do in the darkness. 



The purpose of this book is to describe the lure 

 which makes such a remarkable thing possible, 

 which removes all necessity for fishing under the 

 stars or in flooded water. That lure is the dry-fly. 

 If the angler finds that his pleasure varies directly 

 with the number of fish hooked and landed, if he 

 measures it by the average weight of his catch, if he 

 judges it by the number of large trout caught during 

 a season, if he estimates it by the quality of the 

 sport obtained under difficult conditions, or in any 

 praiseworthy way whatever, he will at once acknow- 

 ledge it largely increased when he adds to his list 

 of lures the floating fly. 



He is not advised to discontinue the use of any 

 lure, because after all a basket of trout is what 

 everyone desires, and that cannot always be ob- 

 tained even with a dry-fly. That lure is not abso- 

 lutely infallible ; at certain times and under certain 

 conditions, not few in number, but occurring with 

 great frequency all through the season, no other is 

 comparable with it. 



Nor is he asked to abstain from fishing in the 

 circumstances above described. That would be 

 quite superfluous, as such practices will automatic- 

 ally cease, when the necessity for them disappears, 

 and that will be when the floating fly becomes 



