10 



CHAPTER II. 



WET AND DRY FLY-FISHING. 



VARIOUS opinions prevail as to wet and dry fishing, 

 and I think in this matter, if we want to deceive trout, 

 we should follow Nature as closely as possible. On a 

 dry, quiet day the wings of the natural fly are dry, 

 and when it falls on the water it takes some time 

 before they become saturated, and until then it 

 floats on the surface. Imitate this by giving your 

 artificial fly two or three flicks backwards and 

 forwards before you finally throw it. You thus shake 

 the water out of it, and it floats. But on wet or 

 very windy days the natural fly soon becomes wet 

 with rain, or from the broken surface of the water, 

 and at such times let the artificial lure sink a few 

 inches beneath the surface, and if the trout are feed- 

 ing, fishing in this manner is most deadly. At night 

 I have generally found wet fly-fishing to answer best, 

 even when there has been no rain, and I attribute 

 this to the natural flies becoming damp with dew 

 and thereby sinking. For dry fly-fishing floating 

 flies are now much used. The great objection to 

 them appears to be the hardness of their bodies, 

 which is no sooner found by trout to be different to 

 the natural fly than they blow it out without giving 

 time to strike. I have found this particularly with 

 cork-bodied May-flies, and prefer the ordinary body 

 in consequence. 



