THE NECESSITY FOR THE DRY-FLY 25 



the best trout out of the following company. Most 

 wet-fly fishers will agree that on the river a great 

 many rises occur at the moment the flies alight on 

 the surface. Everyone must have observed a trout 

 break water as soon as, or even before, the fly 

 arrives, as if it had been awaiting and expecting 

 the event. The trout is there on the surface actu- 

 ally before the fly. 



Intent on feeding, the fish eagerly watches for the 

 appearance of food, and takes the artificial the 

 instant it arrives, not knowing whether it is going 

 to act in unnatural fashion by sinking in the water. 

 The trout accepts the fly without suspicion, because 

 the fly is acting precisely like a natural insect. It 

 cannot tell whether the fly is similar to those already 

 accepted, and it has no reason to suspect its genuine- 

 ness. Hence it is that the wet-fly sometimes meets 

 with a fair response. 



At every part of the season and in all streams 

 inhabited by worthy and wary trout, the dry-fly is 

 essential when the fish are feeding on flies in their 

 winged state. Other lures may then produce a 

 trout or two ; but if the maximum of sport is to be 

 forthcoming, then the fly used must be a good 

 imitation of the insect on the water, and it must 

 likewise float. 



The dry-fly is not a satisfactory lure when trout 

 are feeding exclusively on subaqueous forms of flies 

 or on any of the many and varied creatures which 

 pass all their days beneath the surface ; but it is 

 often a means of securing a fair basket, though not 

 a rise is seen. 



A rise is an effect of which a fly is the cause, and 

 if the fly is absent the rise cannot take place an 



