CHAPTER III 



THE ETHICS OF THE DRY-FLY 



There is, to my mind, no necessity to discuss here 

 the relative merits of the dry-fly and wet-fly. The 

 question has been debated ad nauseam, and there 

 is room among true sportsmen for the votaries 

 of either style of fly-fishing. The confirmed advocate 

 of the dry-fly school will under all conditions float his 

 fly. The wet-fly man will sink his fly or flies, and 

 he who, like the late Francis Francis, believes that | 

 " the judicious and perfect application of dry, wet, ,• 

 and mid-water fly-fishing stamps the finished fly-fisher i 

 with the hall-mark of efficiency," will continue to use j 

 each method as and where he deems it to be the most i 

 likely to lead to success. 



The dry-fly is, as its name suggests, an artificial fly 



used dry, i.e. with no water 

 Definition of a dry-fly. held in suspension between the 



fibres of the hackles, wings or 

 other feathers, etc., used in its construction. In this 

 state it floats on the surface of the stream. Mayflies, 

 duns or sedges should sail down cocked, i.e. the may- 

 flies and duns with their wings erect and the sedges 

 with their wings at an angle of about 30° to the 

 horizontal. The spent gnat or spinner which reprc- 

 F 65 



