STREAMCRAFT 



recall the August afternoon of the circumstance. 

 He used a very fine and long leader, a number 

 12 fly and threw it very high in the forward- 

 cast so that the long drop to the water caused 

 it to alight so gently that it floated, if not for 

 long yet long enough to induce rises. 



You are fishing with greater precision, in 

 using the dry-fly method, if you cast only when 

 you see fish rising. This English practise of 

 "fishing the rise" obviates covering a lot of 

 water where there are no fish and a lot of wear 

 and tear on tackle; but the trout may be rising 

 very sluggishly, then you have to "fish the 

 water" if you fish dry-fly at all which is the 

 usual American custom. It must not be for- 

 gotten that English dry-fly literature should be 

 considered in connection with the shallow, clear, 

 placid chalk-streams of the Southern part of 

 the country, which especially are the haunt of 

 the dry-fly man and are very different from our 

 tumultuous mountain brooks and rivers. 



The dry-fly angler is not an early riser, as 

 there are few flies out before nine or ten o'clock. 

 In the typical English method the angler con- 

 centrates all his attention on looking for a 

 rising fish, and does not wet his line till he spots 

 one. He particularly searches under both 

 banks, and critically scrutinizes the deeper 

 water at all bends, and the eddies or back- 

 washes, meanwhile keeping the point of his 



102 



