134 THE DRY-FLY MAN'S HANDBOOK 



Our non-fishing friends on a pouring wet day 



generally tell us that according 



Rain and thunder, to tradition this is ideal fishing 



weather. This may or may 

 not be so. One of the greatest difficulties on a rainy 

 day, that of keeping the fly dry and floating, has been 

 enormously alleviated by the universal use of paraffin 

 for waterproofing the feathers and other materials 

 used in the construction of the artificial fly. The 

 opinion that before a heavy thunderstorm trout do 

 not rise, but generally take well during its height or 

 after its conclusion, is to some extent a sound one. 

 The barometer generally registers a sudden fall 

 immediately before the outbreak of the storm and 

 after the electrical conditions have subsided it usually 

 assumes its normal height. A sudden fall is generally 

 unfavourable, and the recovery, if not too rapid, is 

 generally favourable to our particular class of sport. 

 A very rapid recovery after a sudden fall is an indica- 

 tion of further unsettled weather, which is as a rule 

 unfavourable. 



The idea attached to the expression hatch of fly by 

 'the older school of angling 

 Temperature. writers was based on the hatch- 



ing of land-bred insects, which 

 is accelerated by heat and retarded by cold. They 

 therefore opined that similar conditions would attach 

 to the hatch of insects which serve as food for 

 the trout. The application of the word hatch by 

 anglers to the metamorphosis of a water-bred nymph 



