154 THE WAY OF A TROUT WITH A FLY 



in their education; either they knew all about drag and 

 despised it and went on feeding, or they knew enough about 

 the floating line to realize that it indicated the presence of 

 the enemy, and that it were wise to suspend feeding opera- 

 tions. Once convinced of this — too late in the rise to be 

 much use — I restored my Dotterel dun to its place, and 

 found it readily accepted by the only brace of trout to 

 which I was able to despatch it without making my 

 presence known. Now, if I were to listen to the voice of 

 authority, I should either abstain from casting a line to 

 any of these fish, because I should be adding needlessly to 

 the already too advanced education, etc., and so pre- 

 judicing, etc., or I should wait until the fish were well on, 

 and add to their education in drag and the other mysteries 

 of the dry fly. On the other hand, there was the alternative 

 of recalcitrancy, which I took. I can, and do, believe that 

 hammering fish with the dry fly does advance their educa- 

 tion, as nothing else will, but so far I have seen no scintilla 

 of proof that the use of the wet fly cast upstream to 

 feeding trout has anything like so disastrous an effect. 

 There is no question of wet versus dry fly. Each in its place 

 and used according to knowledge is surely the way of 

 wisdom. 



SEMI-SUBMERGED, ETC. 



On a Sunday afternoon at the end of May I had an 

 exceptional opportunity of observing the hatch of the 

 May fly on the Kennet. The light, the position in which 

 I sat, the swing of the full current at my feet, and the 

 clearness of the water after a long drought, all combined 

 to help me, and again and again I saw that exquisite 

 little water-miracle recur. The dull, inert, brownish body 

 of the nymph, swung down by the current from the swaying 

 tassels of the water-weed, coming slowly to the surface, till 



