DRY FLY FISHING 61 



Anglers differ as to how late the evening 

 fishing should be prolonged. Night fishing with 

 a large wet fly should not be allowed on good 

 dry fly water. It is poor fun to haul out of 

 the river by main force in the dark, on thick 

 gut, a trout that might give good sport in day- 

 light. Before it gets dark, however, there is a 

 half-hour in which it is just possible to see 

 where a fish is rising, but just not possible to 

 see one's fly. It needs both skill and judgment 

 to put an artificial fly properly over a fish in 

 these conditions, but during this half-hour a 

 skilful angler may expect to get a brace of good 

 trout with a floating sedge fly. This is perfectly 

 fair fishing, but it has not the same interest as 

 the finer fishing in better light; it needs skill, 

 and yet it is comparatively clumsy work. The 

 angler strikes at sight of a rise without being 

 sure whether it is to his fly or not. He can, 

 and indeed must, use stronger gut, because, when 

 a trout is hooked, he cannot tell accurately what 

 it is doing, or follow its movements adjusting 

 the strain carefully to the need of each moment 

 as he would do in daylight. In short a great 

 part of all that happens, both before and after 



