TO FISH FLOATING FLY 87 



average when using the sunken fly and a tight 

 line fished downstream or partly down and 

 across. That the average angler whose dry fly 

 knowledge is confined wholly to a greater or 

 lesser familiarity with the literature of the sub- 

 ject, seriously doubts his ability or that of any 

 man to strike his fish successfully with a slack 

 line is, I am sure, a fact; and this identical 

 thing, possibly more than anything else, is re- 

 sponsible for the hesitancy with which the con- 

 firmed wet fly fisherman turns to the dry fly. 

 In point of fact, the trick is soon picked up and 

 the angler finds his percentage of trout well- 

 hooked really larger than when wet fly fishing. 

 Two of the chief reasons for this are that 

 the dry fly, being a very close imitation of the 

 natural insect in appearance and (when prop- 

 erly fished) in action, is generally taken by the 

 fish with far more confidence than is the wet 

 fly; as a result fewer fish are merely foul- 

 hooked by chance or simply pricked, and un- 

 less the fly is missed entirely even the 

 natural fly is missed at times the trout is 

 generally well-fastened. Also, inasmuch as the 

 dry fly is fished upstream, and, as a rule, the an- 

 gler is below the rising fish, the direction of the 

 strike is toward the fish and not away from it, 

 as is frequently the case when casting the wet 



