no DRY-FLY FISHING 



For example, a right-handed angler will find it 

 expedient to move so that the rising trout is up- 

 stream to his right rather than to his left, for 

 when a cast is made to the left his view is liable to 

 be obscured by the rod, a not unimportant point. 

 A cast straight upstream must result in " lining " 

 the trout, that is to say, the gut must fall above 

 the trout and float down over it ; some fish, as we 

 have already seen, know only too well its signifi- 

 cance. If, however, by reason of a strong current, 

 broken or clouded water, the gut is not perceived, 

 a rise is a certainty provided the fly falls nicely, 

 and a successful strike follows almost as a matter 

 of course, because the line is tight. 



In a deep broad pool having a strong current 

 flowing down the centre, a cast straight across is 

 the best of all for raising a trout if the flies alight 

 on the current, but only a very small proportion 

 of the raised fish will be hooked, unless of course 

 the fact is known and certain precautions taken. 

 Such a pool is full of trout, partly because so few 

 are taken out. The wet-fly man, who fishes it 

 precisely as he does other pools, finds in it little 

 reward, unless fingerlings be counted reward, be- 

 cause his flies alight in the slack water on the far 

 side, his line in the centre, where it comes under 

 the influence of the steep current and sucks out the 

 flies at extraordinary speed. 



The dry-fly fisher will meet with the same fate if 

 he adopts the same tactics, but he will raise a 

 trout at almost every cast if he lays his flies on the 

 current. However, these rises come to nothing, 

 because the wind blowing up or down stream puts 

 such a curve on the line that the strike is invariably 



