134 THE WAY OF A TROUT WITH A FLY 



A GOOD ENTRY. 



This is frankly a fly-dresser's, and, what is more, a 

 wet-fly dresser's section. The subject is a very practical 

 one. A natural insect, whether in nymph or other stage, 

 does not, when maintaining itself against the stream or 

 being carried down by it, resisting or unresisting, skirt or 

 carry bubbles with it, and it may be inferred that an 

 artificial fly which does either of these things is apt to 

 offend so sensitive a fish as the trout and to put him off 

 his feed. It is held, therefore, that a trout fly which is 

 intended to swim against the stream in however slight 

 a degree while being carried down by it ought to have 

 what is called " a good entry "; that is, it ought to be 

 so constructed as to swim with the smoothness of a nymph 

 or small fish, and not to skirt, or to cause or carry bubbles. 

 The commonest cause of such a defect in an artificial fly 

 is too big and clumsy a head. This is the reason why an 

 artificial wet fly usually has a head much smaller in pro- 

 portion than that of the natural fly. It is also a reason 

 why eyed hooks are not so suitable as blind hooks for 

 small trout flies, the eye and knot combining to make a 

 disproportionately bulky head. But a small head alone 

 will not ensure a good entry for a winged fly or for a fly 

 with stiff hackles. A soft-hackled fly adjusts itself easily 

 to the action of the water, but a fly with stiff, staring, 

 upright wings or hackles may easily cause such a disturb- 

 ance in the water as to give proof of a bad entry. The 

 lines, therefore, on which an artificial wet fly that is to 

 be fished against the stream in any way is built ought to 

 be fine, like the lines of a yacht or swift boat, or high- 

 class motor, sloping backwards, so as to offer the least 

 possible resistance to the current, and such resistance 

 as there is should be elastic. The fly ought to be equal 



