164 DRY-FLY FISHING 



or grayling, sea-trout or eel, but not so many can 

 point out the spot where a rise would occur, if a 

 fly should chance to alight upon it. 



The purist will probably admit that the other 

 man catches more fish, but he will maintain that 

 the more enjoyable sport is obtained by stalking 

 the rising trout. No man can measure the enjoy- 

 ment of another. On one day of which we have 

 clear recollections, and an accurate entry in the 

 diary, we killed seven pounds of trout with the dry- 

 fly, and throughout the day we had not one single 

 opportunity of covering a rise. Had we restricted 

 ourselves as the purist suggests, we should not 

 have had a happy day. If an expert in the use of 

 the clear-water worm had been out on that same 

 day, he might have had eight pounds. Would he 

 believe that his sport was less enjoyable than 

 ours ? 



We would rather have seven pounds to the dry- 

 fly than eight pounds to the worm ; but his ideas 

 may be quite the reverse. The only logical con- 

 clusion seems to be that the heavier the basket an 

 angler takes by his favourite method, the happier 

 is he. We, ourselves, prefer the dry-fly to all 

 other lures, and with it we fish the rise when there 

 is a rise to cover, and the stream when there is 

 not. 



W. C. Stewart, the author of The Practical 

 Angler, who did more to popularise fishing and to 

 educate anglers than probably any other writer, 

 occupies a position in the history of angling be- 

 tween the old-fashioned school of down-stream 

 wet-fly fishers and the modern class of dry-fly 

 anglers. 



