A DAY ON THE ITCHEN 81 



ing me to fish dry-fly calls it " M. Pegoud," 

 after the pioneer of human inverted flight, 

 because it generally alights upon the water on 

 its back, hook upwards. Obviously the hook 

 must therefore be unseen by the trout, while 

 the fly is in the " looking-glass," showing only 

 the hackle ; perhaps that is why the fly does 

 so well. We can ponder over that and other 

 problems while, like good dry-fly water, we 

 glide slowly on our course towards a dry- 

 fly day. 



The man who fishes dry, as we have noticed, 

 has more direct evidence than the wet-fly man 

 about the whereabouts of his opponent. He 

 locates every individual trout. Either he sees 

 them in the water, or he sees indications of 

 their presence, breakings of the surface, which 

 may or may not be true rises to floating flies. 

 Whatever they are, they show the actual position 

 of the trout, and then But it is hopeless 

 trying to describe such moments : the instant 

 alertness, perhaps after a long wait, the thrill 

 of excitement, the enforced calmness of brain 

 while thinking out the problem of approach 

 unseen to casting distance, how and where to 

 cast, what fly but we will leave that aspect 

 of dry-fly fishing for the present, and words 

 are a poor medium to convey such feelings. 



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