TACTICS 113 



succeed in thoroughly alarming it. If any angler 

 can make his fly leave the surface in the same 

 delicate way that a sub-imago takes wing, then 

 doubtlessly he will make use of his superlative skill ; 

 but ordinary mortals will succeed equally well, if 

 they fish out the cast and then repeat it. 



Similarly, if the angler makes a mistake in his 

 aim at a certain trout, he should temporarily 

 ignore that fish and allow his fly to complete its 

 voyage. By so doing he may conceivably lure 

 another trout ; but he has less chance of scaring 

 the one that induced him to cast, and it will be 

 waiting for him at the old place when he has finished 

 the unexpected, perhaps undeserved, fight. We 

 have seen, and most anglers have seen, trout rising 

 so close together that the rings intersected as soon 

 as formed and passed down stream in company. 



All the time the dry-fly fisher is at work he should 

 be exercising and cultivating his powers of observa- 

 tion, and thinking out his plan of campaign. Many 

 parts of a river capable of producing many trout 

 to a thoughtful angler may yield nothing to another. 



As an example, let us consider those little 

 corners which are found in so many waters. The 

 rivers turns almost at right angles to its course ; 

 the main body of water pours along one bank into 

 the next pool and strikes against the opposite 

 bank, while a certain amount trickles over a thin 

 gravelly shallow into a backwater, scooped out in 

 times of flood, fairly deep, practically motionless, 

 very calm, and generally weedy. Such a place, the 

 backwater, is sure to be tenanted with good trout 

 intent on feeding, but very shy and cunning. 



If the angler lays his fly according to custom 



