roo DRY-FLY FISHING 



siderations that call for explanation. We advise 

 the beginner to make his first practice casts with 

 the dry-fly straight upstream, and then tell him 

 that such a cast is to be resorted to only on excep- 

 tional occasions. In the first place he is practising, 

 not fishing, but a more important point is that a 

 cast directly upstream, though not a good raising 

 cast, is a grand hooking cast, that is to say, only a 

 few trout will be raised, but of these few a large 

 proportion will be hooked. He is, therefore, not 

 likely to be subjected to many disappointments in 

 the shape of unaccepted offers ; but on the other 

 hand might easily make a capture, an event highly 

 desirable at the initiation stages. 



The second matter requiring elucidation concerns 

 the statement that trout, which are much sought 

 after, become very suspicious of, and are readily 

 alarmed by, floating gut. In apparent contradiction 

 we have related that a trout may accept the tail-fly 

 after allowing the dropper-fly to pass by untouched. 

 We would not expect such a thing to happen in 

 quiet water of gentle flow, but we know it to be 

 quite common in streamy broken water in which, it 

 is natural to expect, the gut will not be conspicuous, 

 and that is, from necessity, the type of water into 

 which our flies are most frequently cast. 



Thirdly, it will be obvious that, though two flies 

 adorn the cast, aim is always taken with the tail-fly. 

 Theoretically the dropper should not be present, 

 but anglers are not infallible and, as we have good 

 reason to know, frequently overestimate the distance 

 of a rising trout. The dropper-fly very often suc- 

 ceeds in correcting such a mistake. Moreover, in 

 our Scottish streams, trout are numerous and in 



