298 THE DRY-FLY MAN'S HANDBOOK 



success of some- of the awful monstrosities called 

 fancy flies, which are prescribed as infallible because 

 on some happening-day a feeding fish took one and 

 was duly landed. 



There are, of course, great differences of opinion 

 on all questions appertaining to the art of the fly- 

 fisherman, and I am the last to wish in any way to 

 exhibit a spirit of intolerance. Every well-considered 

 opinion, every well-thought-out pattern of artificial, 

 every detail of rod or tackle, every worked-out theory 

 of cheating the wind or of casting against it, In 

 fact, every conceivable theory which is the result 

 of study or observation is worth a prolonged series 

 of trials and experiments before adopting or con- 

 demning it. 



It is, above all, however, necessary for a writer to 

 express his own opinions clearly, openly, and without 

 reserve. I believe that a dry-fly man who is equipped 

 with the rod, tackle, and gear described in a previous 

 part of this book, and with the thirty-three patterns 

 correctly and well dressed in accordance with the 

 details set forth in " Modern Development of the 

 Dry-Fly," is in a position to cope with the shyest 

 and most educated trout of the clearest of chalk- 

 streams if he will read, learn, and inwardly digest 

 the advice given as to how, when, and where he 

 should cast his fly. In some rivers where other 

 insects prevail he may have to make a few (but 

 very few) additions to the number of patterns ; but, 

 above all, I must once more recapitulate the dictum 



