174 DRY-FLY FISHING 



cast to them, but will accept it eagerly if trailed 

 behind the boat at the end of a long line and on 

 other occasions it must be fished high ; the method 

 depends on the nature of the creatures the trout 

 are pursuing. But we must not allow ourselves to 

 be lured away from our subject by the glories and 

 possibilities of the wet-fly. 



The dry-fly often proves irresistible, if it is allowed 

 to float absolutely at rest in calm water for a full 

 minute, and then is suddenly jerked an inch or two 

 by the left hand pulling on the line. The trout 

 seems to argue that here is a fly, which it meant to 

 attend to later, making endeavours to escape. 



The time to fish the dry-fly on a loch is not 

 necessarily when plenty of flies are in evidence, 

 but rather when nymphal activity has ceased, and 

 the trout turn their attentions to the surface. We 

 have seen the loch not once but times without 

 number covered with flies and not a trout moving 

 to them ; we had good sport with the wet-fly amongst 

 the larvae-chasing fish, and then, by changing to 

 the dry-fly when the trout began to rise to the winged 

 insects, we continued to enjoy ourselves. 



Some lochs produce few flies and others many ; 

 but in all that we have seen, the dry-fly gets its 

 opportunity sometimes, and then the wet-fly is 

 almost useless. A calm is emphatically not the 

 signal that betokens the advent of that opportunity, 

 though that is still a prevalent idea ; flies hatch and 

 also float when waves are high, as well as when the 

 loch is smooth and flat, but whenever and wherever 

 the trout rise, the floater scores. 



We know one angler who, tired of casting on a 

 trying day of May his unavailing flies over trout 



