124 THE DRY-FLY MAN'S HANDBOOK 



taking nymphs or some other subaqueous creatures 

 or rising at the winged insects. If he watches the 

 artificial fly cast on the water by his companion, he 

 will soon realize that the action of the line and gut 

 will often cause the artificial fly, even when it does 

 not perceptibly drag, to perform eccentric and un- 

 expected antics on the water which are not indulged 

 in by the living duns or spinners. 



Let us now suppose that the student has spotted 

 what he thinks is a rise, and 

 A rising fish. that he has directed his field- 



glass on the place where it 

 appeared to be. The next time the fish feeds he will 

 see whether it has taken a dun, spinner, curse, or 

 sedge fly on the surface. A trout or grayling feeding 

 on any of these is designated a rising fish and is the 

 fish to be selected by him for his cast. If he con- 

 tinues to watch, he may well be able to make sure of 

 the kind of fly the trout is taking, and an imitation of 

 this is obviously the pattern to be selected. . 



When clouds of small Diptera are hovering over 



the water and occasionally 



Smutting fish. dipping on to the stream, fish 



are often madly on the feed. 

 This usually takes place on a hot, calm, muggy day, 

 when the trout will come to the surface and take in 

 rapid succession quite a number of these tiny flies 

 called curses or smuts by the modern angler. An 

 accurately placed floating imitation of one of these 

 insects will, at times, tempt even the largest and 



