70 DRY-FLY FISHING 



double wings ; that is to say, the wings are composed 

 of four folds of feather, not, be it understood, 

 because the natural fly possesses two pairs of wings 

 one pair is much smaller than the other but for 

 a totally different reason. A dry-fly built with 

 single wings is, after a few casts and under-water 

 trips, a very different object from what it was when 

 new ; the wing is now a collection of individual 

 fibres, and that fact, while it might convert the 

 fly into a very effective spinner, renders it com- 

 paratively useless for the purpose for which it was 

 expressly designed. 



A fly dressed with double wings lasts for a longer 

 time and accounts for a larger number of trout than 

 one with single wings. After a fish is captured, 

 the fly should be washed, dried, oiled, and dried 

 again for an absolutely dry fly is at times infinitely 

 superior to all others and then the fibres of the 

 wing should be gently stroked into position. Such 

 flies are mostly of use in spring and autumn, but 

 on any cold day of summer a fleet of sub-imagines 

 may be seen sailing down the stream, when of course 

 the angler will at once take the hint. 



It has been fashionable for a few years to imitate, 

 or rather suggest, the wings of spent spinners by 

 means of hackle-tips fastened on horizontally at 

 right angles to the hook ; for some time we content- 

 edly used these extremely delicate lures and spoke 

 in praise of them ; but now we consider that there 

 is a serious defect in their construction. 



When the female imago has completed its life's 

 work, it falls spent and exhausted on the water ; 

 its transparent wings lie spread out, in contact with 

 and flat on the surface. In fact, they are invisible 



