10 FLOATING FLIES 



American dry fly fishing may be defined 

 briefly as the art of displaying to the trout a 

 single artificial fly floating upon the surface of 

 the stream in the exact manner of the natural 

 insect. Upon occasions, somewhat rare, in- 

 deed, but nevertheless of sufficient frequency to 

 render the fact noteworthy, the American dry 

 fly man casts consciously to a rising and feeding 

 trout the invariable custom of the English 

 dry fly " purist." On the trout streams of this 

 country, however, the orthodox manner of fish- 

 ing the floating fly is to fish all the water as 

 when wet fly casting. 



In America, owing to the fact that the dry 

 fly angler fishes the water and not the rise, wet 

 and dry fly fishing are far more closely related 

 than is the case in England where the orthodox 

 sportsman stalks the trout, casting exclusively 

 to a rising and feeding fish; from this it may be 

 easily deduced that much of the following dis- 

 cussion on the subject of fishing with floating 

 flies is in the very nature of things must be 

 equally applicable to either dry or wet fly 

 fishing. 



Moreover, angling conditions are such in 

 this country that the fly-fisherman to be consist- 

 ently successful cannot rely solely upon either 

 one method or the other he should be pass- 



