Practical Dry-Fly Fishing 



a slight investigation would show that 

 their circulation in this country is by 

 no means general. To ask the aver- 

 age English sportsman the question 

 propounded at the beginning of this 

 chapter — "What is a dry-fly?" — would 

 be almost equivalent to asking an 

 American to define base-ball. 



While it is true that the past year 

 or two the floating fly has been dis- 

 cussed more generally than ever before 

 by American anglers, yet some of our 

 old-timers — those who have been fly- 

 fishing enthusiasts for years — ^have as- 

 sumed that Americans have been fa- 

 miliar with dry-fly methods since the 

 publication, many years .ago, of Mr. 

 Halford's earlier works; but a little 

 thought and observation, in the author's 

 judgment, will prove this assumption to 

 be entirely erroneous, and made possible 

 only by that psychological condition 

 [61 



