168 THE FINE ART OF FISHING 



it must be learned, and the man who wades, soon 

 acquires a good working knowledge. 



Given a stream which may be fished by either method, 

 canoe or waders, the question arises as to which method 

 is the more apt to be effective. Wading a trout stream 

 is quite a science in itself. Some anglers, not the ma- 

 jority in America at least, favor fishing or wading up- 

 stream. The reasons for this preference are many and 

 logical. It is claimed that as trout customarily lie 

 heading up-stream the angler casting from below is less 

 liable to be seen; that the flies when so cast as to float 

 down to the fish from above act more naturally than 

 when worked more or less against the current ; and that 

 wading up-stream removes the possibility of alarming 

 the trout or, at least, causing them to be suspicious by 

 any disturbance of the stream bed, the dislodgment of 

 small sticks, or muddying the water, the current, of 

 course, carrying the news to the trout when the angler 

 is working down-stream. 



The advantages of wading down-stream in the typi- 

 cally swift trout stream are, however, very apparent 

 to most experienced fly-casters. In the first place it is 

 far more natural and certainly much easier to wade with 

 the current than against it. It is generally possible to 

 cast a sufficiently long line to do away with the pos- 

 sibility of being seen by the fish, and it is a question 

 whether the flies if skilfully fished from above are not 

 quite as attractive as when worked from below. And 

 as to the matter of disturbing the stream bed the man 

 who wades slowly and carefully can reduce the dis- 

 turbance to a negligible quantity. 



