Trout Flies, Artificial and Natural 79 



trout when they rose the moment the fly alighted 

 upon the water. These experiences of ours alone, 

 however, do not establish as a fact nor as a general 

 proposition that trout rise to a fly more often when it 

 first alights upon the water than after the fly has been 

 fished or played by the Angler; nor that my statement 

 as a general proposition is not a correct one. 



"The statement was perhaps poorly worded and 

 thus misleading, and I should have said that on an 

 average trout do not rise to a fly once in thirty casts 

 when it first alights upon the water. My opinion was 

 based, first, upon trout fly-fishing on all kinds of fish- 

 able waters wherever found; second, upon all sizes of 

 trout from the minimum of six inches to the maximum 

 of thirty inches whether or not they were indigenous 

 or planted fish; third, upon my own experience of over 

 twenty-five years as well as the opinion of many 

 Anglers and guides with an experience covering a 

 longer period than my own; fourth, upon my knowl- 

 edge of the habits and habitats of trout under the many 

 varying conditions which govern their lives and actions. 



"Unfortunately most Anglers have given almost no 

 thought to studying and analyzing 'the art of fly- 

 fishing' to the end that they may become better and 

 more successful fishermen and thus enjoy to a greater 

 extent the pleasures of the clean, dignified, and de- 

 lightful sport of angling. It is not surprising then that 

 an Angler upon first thought, even an experienced 

 one, might think that trout rise to flies when they first 

 alight upon the water more often than once in thirty 

 casts because he remembers only the rises and his 

 successes, but pays very little attention to the lack of 

 either. How many Anglers know approximately 

 the number of casts they make in an hour? How 



