ASSORTED RISES 61 



or in the earlier stage of the process of hatching; or (3) 

 subaqueous. 



The best known and the most obvious rise is that in 

 which the trout takes the floating dun or upwinged spinner. 

 It is the foundation rise of dry-fly theory and practice, 

 and it is to this, with the spent spinner rise thrown in, 

 that the dry-fly purist would, in theory at any rate, con- 

 fine the angler. But, as a matter of fact, this super- 

 surface taking forms only a small part of the evidence of 

 a trout's feeding known as the rise, and it is often supremely 

 difficult to determine whether a given rise or series of 

 rises be at food superaqueous, flush, or subaqueous. Much 

 of the floating fly-food of the trout is very small and hard 

 to detect on the surface, and it requires some close watching 

 to say whether it be sipped from above, or at, or just under, 

 the surface. Thus it must come about that many a 

 would-be dry-fly purist has spent busy hours presenting a 

 floating fly (and at times with a measure of success) to 

 trout which are only taking subaqueous food. From this 

 painful and humiliating position there is little chance of 

 escape unless the purist makes a point of actually seeing 

 the fly on the surface taken by the fish (and preferably 

 identifying the insect) before he ventures a cast. Not a 

 great many purists are always so perfectly pure as all that. 



Assuming, however, that the insect be seen coming 

 down to where the fish is seen or known to be lying in 

 wait, the trout comes up from a greater or less depth, with 

 more or less diversion to right or left, and, with more or 

 less confidence or eagerness, and, with a smack, a suck, or 

 a sip, takes down the fly. The smack involves some 

 exposure of the neb and a considerable ring in the water; 

 the suck shows the neb under a small hump of water which 

 never ceases to cover the fish. The sip does not expose 

 the neb at all. A fish coming from a depth and turning 



