76 A SCOTTISH FLY-FISHER 



caprice, the fish stubbornly refused to regard the flies 

 I offered them, and it is possible that if on these occa- 

 sions I had retained my flies on the surface, I might 

 have found them more alluring. I have, however, no 

 assurance of the fact, and my impression is that the 

 situation of the lure was not the cause of its rejection. 



The dry-fly system seems 

 the result of an attempt to 

 place fly-fishing on a scien- 

 tific basis. The effort is 

 praiseworthy, but that it is 

 foredoomed to failure goes 

 without saying ; the uncertain humour of the trout, 

 a factor not to be ignored, must ever defy calculation. 

 The claim made on behalf of dry-fly fishing that it 

 affords the only means by which, on waters and in 

 circumstances suited to it, trout can be secured, is not 

 generally admitted. Be its practical value what it may, 

 however, it is conceived on a principle which appeals to 

 one's reason, and has the merit of being more or less 

 logical. It has been carefully thought out, and it brings 

 us a step nearer to the angler's aim : a perfect imitation 

 of nature, not only in the colour of the lure, but in the 

 manner in which it is presented to the fish. In essaying 

 the capture of surface-feeding trout, the dry-fly angler 



