CHAPTER VII 



THE PSYCHOLOGICAL MOMENT 



Some of our humorous critics may well be heard 

 exclaiming with horror at the above title. They will 

 say that these ultra-scientific dry-fly purists who fancy 

 that they know everything on the subject and, in" fact, 

 do not know anything, even of the rudiments, are now 

 trying to introduce a new factor into the complicated 

 problem of succeeding with the dry-fly. Not only 

 must we use rods of particular length and action, lines 

 dressed in vacuo with pure boiled oil, gut casts of a 

 specific taper and thickness, and flies dressed according 

 to the latest ideas of the expert. Not only must we 

 throw the fly in a particular style, place ourselves 

 crouching or prone in the recognized attitude ; not 

 only must we spot a trout rising in a favourable posi- 

 tion and make sure that it is rising, and not, as may 

 well be, bulging, tailing, or minnowing ; not only must 

 we identify the fly on the water and select a pattern 

 which is a good imitation of this fly ; not only must 

 we deliver it at the first attempt delicately, cocked, 

 and accurately placed, so that it will float over 

 the fish at the same pace and following the same 

 course as the natural insects on which the trout is 

 feeding, but in addition to all this we must wait 



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