g6 DRY-FLY FISHING 



aim directly at the surface, but at an imaginary 

 point a yard vertically above the water. It is very 

 difficult to avoid making this mistake, especially 

 when a trout happens to rise just within casting 

 distance. Everyone knows it is wrong, but many 

 omit to remember the fact at the right moment 

 and, just as the golfer must tell himself to keep 

 his eye on the ball while making his stroke, so the 

 angler must advise himself not to aim at the water 

 or the rise. 



By so doing he allows the parachute-like wings 

 or the soft spreading hackle of his flies time to 

 act, and they lower the lures softly to the water. 

 Lightly they will touch, and their most natural 

 appearance, as they float onwards, bobbing to 

 every wavelet, is sure to delight him, and make 

 him feel that success in the shape of an answering 

 rise cannot be long delayed. The first casts should 

 be made straight upstream, the flies allowed to 

 float not more than a yard before they are lifted 

 off, and, after a false cast in the air to throw the 

 water off them, they should be replaced with as 

 much care as he can command. It is highly dan- 

 gerous to allow them to float farther after an up- 

 stream cast in actual practice it is quite unneces- 

 sary because when he lifts preparatory to the 

 next venture he may, if the flies are too near him, 

 succeed in hooking himself. 



It is quite possible that he has heard that, for 

 every cast that is laid on the water, at least a 

 dozen must be made in the air, in order to ensure 

 the flies being thoroughly dry. He may even have 

 seen dry-fly fishers practising these graceful evolu- 

 tions with the rod and line. These are the timid 



