SUBAQUEOUS HAPPENINGS IN ART 19 



angler should strike immediately. Fortunately, 

 a wet-fly strike, even if misconceived or mis- 

 timed, is far less likely, so long as the fish is clean 

 missed and not lined, to alarm him than is a 

 strike with the dry fly, because the wet fly comes 

 out through the water at a point far below the 

 fish instead of being drawn along the surface. 



In glassy glides, which are always fast water, 

 one either sees the fish turn to the fly, or, if the 

 light prevents it, one sees a little crinkle, or break, 

 work up through the water to the surface, which 

 warns the angler to strike. Often the gut lying 

 on the surface goes under as the fish draws in the 

 fly, and alike in daylight and moonlight it acts 

 as a float ; and even if the fly be taken too deep 

 below water for any other indication to be in time, 

 it will warn the angler to attend to business. An 

 ingenious angler, as elsewhere explained, has con- 

 ceived and utilized successfully the idea of oiling his 

 gut cast for fishing wet directly upstream in rapid 

 water, and an excellent device it is for its occasion. 



But perhaps the commonest indication of an 

 under-water taking in water of slow or moderate 

 pace is an almost imperceptible shallow humping 

 of the water over the trout. It is caused by the 

 turn of the fish as he takes the fly, and when the 

 angler sees it it is time to fasten. If he waits 

 until the swirl has reached and broken the surface 

 (and it may not be violent enough to do so), he 

 may be too late. If the fly drops directly over 



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