HINTS TO DRY-FLY FISHERMEN. 123 



casting and making the fly drift over the fish in a 

 motion and direction similar to that of the natural 

 insect. Delicacy should ensure that the fly lands 

 on the water lightly without the smallest splash or 

 disturbance of the placid surface ; in fact, as a 

 general rule, when watching your own throw, you 

 ought really to be at a loss to say how the fly did 

 fall on the water. To accomplish this, beginners 

 should bear in mind that, although it is possible 

 to deliver the line too high in the air, this is a far 

 less fatal mistake than to dash it down on the 

 water, and, as a rule, one should study to throw 

 as if the level of the water was at least a foot 

 above its actual plane. Accuracy is of the highest 

 importance ; the fly should be so placed that it 

 floats down over the very ring of the rising fish 

 at the first attempt. " Ce n'est que le premier pas 

 qui coute." The first throw over a feeding fish is 

 far more likely to rise him than any subsequent 

 one, and the probability of tempting a fish varies 

 inversely as the number of casts made over him. 



To make the fly drift over the fish in a motion 

 and direction similar to that of the natural insect 

 is the very keystone of the arch. Wherever 

 possible, keep well out of sight by crouching, 

 kneeling down, or wading below the rising fish, 

 and throw the fly up stream so that it lands above 

 the fish at a distance of from one and a half yards 

 to as little as twelve inches, according to the 

 strength of the stream, and place it so that it floats 



