TROUT HABITS; LURES AND USE 



Another time when the trout are very diffi- 

 cult to attract with the artificial fly yet when" 

 they may erroneously be thought to be rising, 

 is when they are plunged head downward into 

 the weeds, grubbing or in search of shrimp, 

 snails, etc. They are then said to be "tailing," 

 because they are generally observed thus en- 

 gaged in shallow water, and if the water is 

 sufficiently shallow the tail of the fish will 

 break the surface and cause a rippling easily 

 mistaken at a distance for that of rising fish. 

 A popular English expedient to provoke a tail- 

 ing trout into striking, is fishing a big Alder-fly 

 downstream; it is allowed to sink and is kept 

 moving, in jerks. Yet one more well-recognized 

 condition when success at fly-fishing is well-nigh 

 hopeless, is when the water is covered with 

 myriads of the minutest creatures, little larger 

 than a pin-head, on which the fish are feeding in- 

 dustriously. These midges are feelingly dubbed 

 "smuts" or "curses" by the English angler. 



Typical dry flies (Halford style) have a pair 

 of double wings set upright or pointing slightly 

 forward, toward the head of the fly, and are 

 otherwise so dressed as to favor buoyancy. But 

 you can fish a dry fly wet, and some anglers even 

 prefer this style when fishing with the sunken 

 fly. The stock wet fly, with a single pair of 

 flat wings, is not however adapted for dry-fly 

 work. 



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