THE FLOATING FLY 75 



with surprising buoyancy; but if the crests of 

 the waves are broken into miniature " white- 

 caps " then the fly is soon drowned. The wet 

 fly, or wet fly methods, should be followed 

 wherever the water is of the latter description. 

 The writer's own custom when fishing a stream 

 wherein smooth and white water alternate con- 

 stantly is to use a single dry fly, a coachman 

 or Wickham's fancy, casting dry or wet as the 

 nature of the stream may seem to render expe- 

 dient. 



In line with a general discussion of the times 

 and localities when and where the dry fly is 

 indicated it should possibly be noted that dry 

 fly casting, as the more clever method and 

 designed particularly for the purpose of an- 

 gling for educated trout, should be favored over 

 wet fly fishing on any stream which is whipped 

 a great deal by wet fly fishermen. That the 

 trout of such a stream grow " gut shy" and 

 exceedingly canny and, at best, when the stream 

 is clear and natural insect food somewhat 

 abundant, rise reluctantly to the wet fly, is 

 axiomatic. In view of the fine tackle, the 

 finesse, and the fidelity to nature afforded by 

 the dry fly method it would seem that no angler 

 could for a moment doubt the efficacy of the 

 floating fly under such circumstances. On the 



