How to Get Them 



visibly feeding. He then selects his fish, gets be- 

 hind it (that is, below it), and prepares for a cast. 

 Then taking two or three false casts in the air to 

 judge the exact distance, the fly is thrown with 

 the intention of making it alight gently a foot or 

 . two above the rising fish, and exactly in 

 ' his line; for a well-fed fish will rarely go 

 even a few inches out of his way for a passing fly. 

 If the fly falls short or wide, it should be left till 

 the line has floated some distance to the rear of 

 the fish, when it must be picked off and whisked 

 through the air two or three times to dry the wings 

 and hackle before a new cast is made. To suc- 

 ceed even moderately well requires a vast amount 

 of practice; clumsiness and bungling are fatal and 

 put the fish down, and it stops feeding. If the 

 fly comes down exactly in the right spot, the fish 

 takes it, if not, the glittering gut arouses its sus- 

 picions and it does not fall a victim to the angler's 

 effort. A most important part of this science is 

 to recognize readily the fly on which the fish are 

 feeding, and be able to maich it with a 

 good imitation. The most famous flies are 

 olive dun, red quill, red spinner, jenny spinner, 

 black gnat, and the alder. 



The art of dry fly-fishing is of no advantage 

 when fishing down stream in wild water; its suc- 

 cess is when fishing from below a quiet, deep pool. 



The tackle is exceedingly light, and the gut at 



least nine feet long; and the point to be attained 



is to make the fly drop on the water, float upright 



on the surface for a few seconds (as the natural 



195 



