1">4 DRY OR WKT FLY. 



down he may set out to fish any stream in the country 

 with tolerable confidence. There are, of course, spare 1 

 pages and pockets for other flies not set down in the list. 

 My list forming merely the piece de resistance, the 

 angler can employ what enforces he chooses. Old anglers. 

 too, will find it convenient to know at a moment what 

 page a particular fly they may want in a hurry is to be 

 found on. 



Having selected h ; .s Mirs and affixed them to his casting 

 line, we will suppose the angler at the river side. Approach- 

 ing the bank with caution, let him choose the most likt-iy 

 spot to commence operations. Before commencing, how- 

 ever, he should be sure to see that his casting line ia 

 thoroughly straight and even, with no bends or turns in it, 

 as these will cause an unnatural glitter on the line, and 

 displacement of the water. Now, there are two ways of 

 fly-fishing, viz. with the dry fly and with the wet fly. 

 Some fishermen always use one plan, others almost aa 

 pertinaciously use the other. To use either of them in- 

 variably is wrong. Sometimes the one will be found to kill 

 best and sometimes the other. In fine waters, particularly 

 in the southern counties, where fly-fishing for trout is cer- 

 tainly more of a systematic art than it is in the north* 

 the dry fly is greatly used, and with very deadly effect at 

 times. In very calm, bright and still weather, when a wet 

 fly will often be useless, the dry fly will be taken most 

 confidingly. In rough windy weather the wet fly is prefer- 

 able; but I shall return to this subject presently. At 

 present, as the angler is supposed to be a novice, he will 

 hardly commence with the dry fly, as it is rather more diffi- 

 cult to fish with than the wet. We will suppose that he 

 has soaked his gut by allowing it to remain some minutes 

 in the water. Old or used gut will soak much quicker 

 than new indeed, the angler will often find a good deal 

 of trouble in getting new gut properly soaked. In this 



