I20 THE DRY-FLY MAN'S HANDBOOK 



and where the varying currents are arranged in the 

 same way. 



Many an apparently impossible spot can be fished 



by laying part of the reel-line 

 Laying line on weed on a weed patch, thus avoiding 

 patches to retard drag, the action of the current on 



any part of the line between 

 the said weed patch and the rod-point — and in this 

 way retarding the drag until the fly is well below the 

 feeding fish. Sometimes, too, in open water the line 

 may in a similar manner be laid on a floating weed 

 mass which is not located in the fastest part of the 

 current. 



A beginner is at times nonplussed at finding a fish 



rising a short distance above a 

 Casting over a wire fence or wire stretched across 

 or fence. the stream. To stand or kneel 



at a point level with the wire 

 or fence may place him too near the fish to be able to 

 keep out of sight — or, possibly, so close to the trout 

 that he is likely to scare and set it down. He 

 should, without a moment's hesitation, take up his 

 station below and cast boldly, with plenty of slack line 

 over wire or fence, to the fish. Very often the stream 

 will carry the fly down and it will trickle over the wire 

 and fall in the water below. If it hangs on the wire a 

 gentle pull will in many cases clear it. If, however, 

 by any chance he should get foul a steady pull will, 

 in the majority of instances, result in the loss of his 

 fly only, or at most, of one or two strands of gut. 



