BROOKS, POOLS, STILL-WATERS 55 



quite familiar. . . . The conditions that are 

 most favorable to dry-fly fishing are, first of all, that the 

 surface of the water should be smooth enough to enable 

 the fly to float and to enable the angler to see it; sec- 

 ondly, that the fish be actually feeding, obviously on 

 some floating insect. Under these conditions I believe 

 the dry-fly will kill fish on any river; but of course in 

 rapid streams, where the surface is broken up by rocks 

 and the current is strong, the conditions are undoubt- 

 edly entirely against the dry-fly fisherman. 



"The great attraction of dry-fly fishing is the actual 

 seeing of the individual fish, the stalking for him, and 

 his ultimate capture; in fact, you see the whole per- 

 formance and fish consciously for one individual trout, 

 whereas in the wet-fly system (which, of course, is also 

 largely used in England), one casts simply into a likely 

 piece of water and hopes for the best. . . . " 



In addition to the above it remains only to be said 

 that to use the dry-fly method it is not absolutely imper- 

 ative to cast to a visibly rising fish, for if he chooses the 

 angler may fish all the water as in wet-fly fishing. It 

 should also be noted that while the majority of dry-flies 

 used in England are close imitations of the insect life 

 of the streams other flies which are sometimes used 

 successfully are not exact imitations but rather of the 

 sort known as "fancy." 



