FLY-CASTING AND FLY-FISHING 67 



very often for the time being the manner most effective. 

 It is a fact that the angler who becomes wedded to one 

 way and sticks, to that way through thick 

 Versatility an( j t ^ n ^ no matte r what the time of 



PI fi h* vear > condition of water, or character 

 of the stream, will catch trout, but 

 the angler who chooses to be versatile in his methods 

 will catch more. 



Books on fly-fishing usually dismiss the subject of 

 how to fish the flies with the brief and apparently satis- 



factory advice: Imitate as closely as pos- 

 Irmtation of sible the actions of the natura i insect 



Of course, imitation of the natural in- 

 sect is the thing to strive for, but just how do you go 

 about it? The result of this advice is that the novice, 

 with the very best intentions, generally skips, twitches, 

 and flutters the flies about on the water, sometimes 

 making them skip gaily up-stream against a sixty-mile 

 current, all in the fond belief that he is imitating nature 

 to the limit. In the opinion of the writer, founded 

 upon a fair success in trout fly-fishing due probably 

 more than anything else to avoiding this sort of nature 

 fake, no worse way of handling the cast can possibly be 

 employed. 



Do not skip the flies about over the water. Exact 

 imitation of nature in trout fly-fishing is most closely 

 approached by dry-fly methods; and twitching and flut- 

 tering the flies forms no part of the science of dry-fly 

 fishing. By all means, eschew dragging the flies up- 

 stream against sixty-mile currents because, as a matter 

 of fact, the natural insect would, of course, be going 

 the other way at "current rates." 



