120 MINOR TACTICS OF THE CHALK STREAM 

 OF WET-FLY CASTING. 



The use of rods which carry a heavy reel Hne 

 is so general on chalk streams that probably the 

 easy drying of the fly and cast is taken as a 

 matter of course, and it is little recognized how 

 much is due to the weight of the line driving the 

 fly rapidly through the air. If the angler were 

 devoting himself to wet-fly fishing on a rough 

 river, he would avoid such a casting line, and if 

 he means to fish a chalk stream wet-fly only, he 

 would do the same. But he would need to be 

 able to propel his fly and line upstream against 

 the wind, and to cast a fairly long line not infre- 

 quently, so that a line with more weight in it 

 than would be required for a rough river would be 

 essential on a chalk stream. But if, as is the 

 wiser course, the angler proposes to fish either wet 

 or dry, as occasion demands, his equipment must 

 be still more of a compromise. He must use a 

 rod which will carry a line that will dry the fly 

 with sufficient speed, but preferably not a line 

 of the heaviest class ; and he must trust to the 

 make of his flies, and to the soaking they get 

 through trailing in the water before the cast, to get 

 them to go under on lighting. The knack can 

 be acquired without difficulty, but if the dry-fly 

 habit has become inveterate he will need to be 

 continually watching himself when he desires to 

 fish wet. 



