CHAPTER VII 



A DISSERTATION UPON THE DRY FLY 



IT is only within the last ten years that dry- 

 fly fishing has come into prominence in this coun- 

 try, and even to-day this method of taking trout 

 is not as well known as it should be. In the year 

 1911 a series of articles appeared in a well-known 

 outdoor magazine and anglers began to ask 

 among themselves, "Is there any fire behind all 

 this smoke?" We have come to the conclusion 

 that there was and is considerable fire down be- 

 neath the smoke of words. Probably the reason 

 dry fly fishing has not been practised to any great 

 extent in this country is because of the charac- 

 ter of our streams, as well as the fact that our 

 trout are not so highly "educated" as are those 

 of the much fished chalk streams of England. 

 It may be asserted that dry-fly fishing had its rise 

 with Mr. Halford, author of "Dry-Fly Fishing 

 in Theory and Practice," "Dry-Fly Entomol- 

 ogy," and other works, a man of sufficient wealth 

 and leisure to ride a hobby to its stable. His 

 works and there are a number of them are 



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