THE BRITISH ANGLER'S LEXICON. II 



is then passed through the bait, the fins that are open are 

 then pressed into the gills of the fish, and this completes 

 the baiting. 



Artificial Dry Fly Fishing? is practised by those 

 who fish the clear chalky streams of the Midland and 

 Southern counties of England, and is now coming into 

 fashion very much elsewhere when the water is clear and 

 calm and altogether useless for trying the ordinary wet fly. 

 The flies used are special, and made so as to float upon 

 the surface of the water, and thus present to the rising fish 

 the closest resemblance possible to the natural living fly 

 upon which they are feeding. These dry flies sit lightly on 



the water with the wings upright or cocked, and as they 

 are deftly cast over the spot where the rising fish is, in the 

 rings made by the last rise, they are almost certain to be 

 sucked in ; they are usually fished singly. After the fly 

 has been on the water, before returning it again, it is 

 dried by a cast or two in the air. All the tackle used in 

 this style of angling is of the very finest the rod single- 

 handed and well balanced. It requires some practice before 

 the dry fly fisher is capable of dropping the fly perfectly 

 and this at a long distance too without a splash, in the exact 

 spot required, and it requires some dexterity to keep it nicely 

 floating towards the angler over the fish, without having any 

 slack line in the water. The horizontal or undercast throw 

 is the best style, where it is practicable, as one of the 



