Introduction 



cinating lure upon American waters. 

 Some minor differences in methods 

 will appear. 



Owing to the great scarcity of Amer- 

 ican dry-fly literature, and a very gen- 

 eral desire manifested by many anglers 

 of the writer's acquaintance for infor- 

 mation on the subject of the floating 

 fly, early in 1911 the author was re- 

 quested by the editor of Field and 

 Stream to write a few articles for be- 

 ginners. He consented, but being un- 

 willing to pose as an expert, or even 

 as one of the American anglers most 

 capable of instructing others, in his 

 articles he explained that his position 

 was that of a beginner willing to lend 

 a helping hand to other beginners, to 

 guide them in their first steps on the 

 dry-fly path. This is his attitude in 

 taking up the present work. There is 

 a constantly growing number of wet 



[xii] 



