9 8 DRY-FLY FISHING 



be so, there need be no despair or doubt regarding 

 the virtues of the new lure, for such a thing should 

 not be expected if, as is assumed, the trout are 

 not rising, though he will certainly feel surprised 

 that his life-like fly riding the stream so naturally 

 should not have elicited some attention. 



He should now return to the bank, dry and oil 

 his flies, dry and re-anoint his line, and wait for 

 the mysterious appearance of a sub-imago, the 

 precursor of the next hatch. Sooner or later, 

 very soon on such a day as this, it will arrive, to 

 be followed immediately by dozens more of the 

 same species, whose presence will at once arouse 

 the trout into energetic action, and hearty rises 

 will be the outcome. 



Out again into midstream he should go, length- 

 ening line on the way, and now he may be so eager 

 to cover a rising trout that he will forget the in- 

 junction not to aim at the surface of the water. 

 If a fish breaks water up in front of him, he will, if 

 he is like most other anglers, pull off a yard or 

 two of line and throw over it. The cast will be 

 clumsily done, and probably the line will fall heavily 

 where the tail-fly should have alighted softly. 

 The first effect of a rise is to make the angler lengthen 

 line. It is rather curious, but very common. He 

 does not consider whether he can cover the trout 

 with the length of line already out ; he takes it 

 for granted that, because it is a rise, it must be 

 far away. He should try first with a false cast 

 whether it is within his distance, and he will find 

 very often that it is ; if not, he should step forward 

 a yard or two preferably to handicapping himself 

 with a line he cannot fully command. 



