DRY-FLY FISHING 



shallower toward the land. We carefully back the 

 canoe and pull it up out of the way and the guide 

 climbs up on a projecting log where he can see the 

 fish, and tell me if the fly passes over them and 

 what they do. I get out my ten-foot-six-inch rod 

 with a fourteen-foot leader and a gray hackle fly 

 and wade into position. I always fish on my feet 

 and wade if possible. A canoe is very hard to fish 

 from with a dry fly because it scares the fish and 

 because it is necessary to make a disturbance 

 when you move. In dry-fly fishing the position 

 of the fly, the leader, and the line are all of them 

 important and it is hard to judge where to place 

 yourself to get a perfect cast. Taking into con- 

 sideration the wind and the current, which make 

 a difference, I always start in well below the fish 

 and to one side so that they do not see me at all. 

 The diagram (Figure 37) shows the position and 

 the banks of the river; my position will be about 

 forty feet to the right of the fish and perhaps 

 fifteen feet below them. I get out my fine, casting 

 in the air and up-stream, along the bank, until I 

 judge that I have the right amount of line out, so 

 that the fly will light three or four feet up-stream 

 from the nearest fish and directly in line with 

 him. The fly is well oiled with a mixture of albo- 



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