THE DRY FLY. 127 



and in that the passage quoted above does not 

 appear, while it does appear in the second 

 edition in 1853. Therefore it is possible to fix 

 with some accuracy the date when Stoddart first 

 knew of the dry fly. This induces the suggestion 

 that Stoddart, well read in angling literature, 

 had got it from Pulman published in 1851. 



Francis, a celebrated writer, published an 

 article on 12 December, 1857, in the Field, of 

 which he had just become angling editor, on the 

 Hampshire streams. Describing the Itchen, 

 he says that however fine you fish, the motion 

 of your line will at times startle the trout. 

 'Accordingly I recommend the angler frequently 

 to. try a dry fly — e.g. suppose the angler sees a 

 rising fish, let him allow his casting-line and 

 fly to dry for a minute previous to making a 

 cast,' and then throw over the fish and let it 

 float down without motion. This is a killing 

 plan when fishing with duns. On rough windy 

 days they get drowned, and trout will take a 

 wet fly as well as a dry one, or perhaps better, 

 but on a fine day they sit on the water with 

 wings upright, and then scarcely a fish will 

 refuse a fly that floats, if its belly, legs and 

 whisks be of the same colour as the natural and 

 the wings not too heavy. Francis says that he 

 had long had these thoughts in his mind, and 

 had had abundant opportunities of proving the 

 advantages of the dry fly, which shows that he 

 knew and used it long before 1857. You must 

 throw your fly like 'thistle-down; do not let it 



