28 Dry -Fly Fishing. 



fish to grass, not missing as many in a season as 

 others in a week. This is not a wild statement, but 

 a fact; and, being so, it is only logical to conclude 

 that what experts can do. other men may attain to 

 by improving their methods and taking proper pre- 

 cautions to avoid, as much as possible, the loss of so 

 many fish a matter alike vexatious and disappoint- 

 ing to the rod wielder and detrimental to a fishery 

 by making the escaped quarry, if again and again 

 they are hooked and break away, at last very shy of 

 rising to an artificial fly although, for that matter, 

 the best so-called " educated " trout has in the long 

 run but a poor chance against the wiles and skill of 

 an accomplished dry-fly enthusiast. 



Some of the probable reasons why fish escape are, 

 with all due deference and respect for the opinions 

 of those who may differ from him, suggestively 

 offered in the following remarks by one whose 

 ample practical experiences have been his best guide 

 to success, especially on the Test, Itchen, Avon, and 

 the Bourne, the Dove, and the Derbyshire Wye and 

 Derwent. It must at once be admitted that the 

 dry-fly fisher who, except on rare occasions, only 

 uses the three small sizes of hooks 000 to cannot 

 help sometimes missing fish ; either the hook in the 

 act of striking is drawn too quickly away from the 

 rising trout, or, if he be only slightly hooked, it 

 gives way as he turns and the rod bends to his first 



