360 
F () R E S T AND S T R E A M 
July, 1919 
STAUNCH as a BOOT 
FLEXIBLE as a MOCCASIN 
Here--Mr. Sivortsman is the boot you’ve been loogln? for— so 
lifrbt and pliable that you can tramp all day in it without fret* 
ring footsore; built to firive you years of eruellins service. 
ussgU’s "Ike 
lion 
BeriiD, 
chrome, t^ 6nest of waterproof^ 
cowhides, with flexible, lons-wearing 
Maple Pac Soles. 
Ask your dealer for **Ike Waltons”— 
if he can't supply you, write for Cat* 
BlogM. 
W. C RUSSEa MOCCASIN CO. 
Wisconsin 
DO YOU KNOW 
that for just 10 cents a day 
you can give a child 
to France ? 
The men of France have died fighting our battles. 
The women and children of Fiance axe left to bear the 
burden. 
$36.50 a year, added to the small allowance of the 
French Government, will save a child for the new 
France. Will you subscribe $.10 a day. $3 a month. 
$36.50 a year: payable monthly, quarterly or yearly. 
Ever>' penny of the money collected goes to the chil- 
dren. Expenses are paid from a separate fund. 
Prove your patriotism by helping immediately, prac- 
tically and personally, our ally. France. 
Ten Cents a day means little to you. Wlien a grate- 
ful letter comes from some little child in France you 
will know how much it means there. 
$ .10 keeps a child 1 day $36.50 keeps a child 1 yr. 
3.00 1 mo. 73.50 " “ “ 2 yrs. 
Date 
I pledge \ $36.50 for a aged ia its 
myself > ®'™ home for years 
I $ for .... children In their o'vi 
to give J homes for years 
I enclose herewith $ In payment for the 
above and pledge myself to give the remainder in 
payments. 
CROSS OITT THE PARA- 
GRAI’HS YOU DON’T ACCEPT 
I promise to give the same amount next year. I wish 
to know the name and address of the child or children. 
Signed 
Address 
Checks should be drawn to "THdC FATHERLESS 
CHILDREN OF FRANCE COmUTTEE” and mailed 
to the Chicago 'Treasurer. DAVID R. FORGAN. Room 
V41 Fine Arts Building. Chicago. 
Even if fish aren’t biting, an "Old Town’’ 
gives pleasure and exercise to keep you fit. 
Be outdoors all you can. Outdoor life made 
our soldiers ready to win. 
"Paddle your own canoe 
— and be sure it’s an 'Old 
Town’.’’ Send for catalog. 
OLD TOWN CANOE CO. 
897 Fourth St. 
Old Town. Maine 
NOTES ON THE WET FLY 
THERE ARE TIMES WHEN TROUT WILL TAKE A SUNKEN FLY 
MORE FREELY THAN ONE PRESENTED ON THE SURFACE 
By LADD PLUMLEY 
T is the notion of 
many fly fishermen 
that dry fly fishing 
is the modern stunt 
in angling and that 
to be in fashion in 
fly fishing you 
should use that lure. 
But dry fly fishing 
is not modern and 
has been followed 
for very many 
years. Long before 
the dry fly, as a distinct and definite 
mode of angling, received much attention 
on the part of sporting writers, the use 
of the dry fly — under certain conditions 
— was general with many fly fishermen, 
both in England and in this country. You 
will find the use of the dry fly advocated 
even in such rather ancient compendiums 
of fishing as “The American Angler’s 
Book,” by Thaddeus Norris, and the 
first edition of that book was published 
in 1864. 
Forty and more years ago I took 
trout with a dry fly over smooth pools, 
and the occasional use of the dry fly was 
general on the part of many anglers. 
But at that time the dry fly was not in 
use solely by itself but was combined 
with the wet fly. When deemed pro- 
ductive we used one mode or the other, 
as conditions required. And this it 
would seem, even at present, is the most 
rational method for obtaining the best 
results, for there are times when trout 
will take a sunken fly more freely than 
a fly presented on the surface. 
It may be asked what is a wet fly? 
And just as a dry fly is constructed so 
that it floats on the surface, its wet 
brother is dressed in a manner so that 
almost immediately it sinks below the 
water. This is attained with delicate 
hackles and light body and wings, and, 
generally, with material that aosorbs 
moisture. 
I For the best results, the wet fly should 
be presented in much the same manner 
as when presenting the dry fly. This 
mode of fishing with the wet fly is not 
at all usual, and yet, if followed, will at 
times bring the most splendid sport. The 
dry fly fisherman wades against the 
water and he casts his single fly up- 
stream and never down. There are ex- 
cellent reasons for this procedure, as 
trout have not yet developed eyes in 
their tails and always rest with their 
heads against the current. The ap- 
proach, therefore, toward a trout’s rear 
instead of toward its head will be less 
i likely to disturb the fish. It would seem 
! that with the use of any lure whatever 
the angler should always wade and cast 
his lure upstream and not dowm. 
Again, the study of the history of up- 
stream, against the current, fishing will 
prove that the mode has been practiced 
for very many years by the most suc- 
cessful fly fishermen. For instance, it 
is strongly advocated by Stoddart, the 
celebrated Scottish fly fishing expert, for 
clear and low streams, and as early as 
1850 or thereabouts. But it is true that, 
until quite lately, the use in 'wet fly 
fishing of the down stream method has 
been almost universal. 
The flies of the down stream, -wet fly 
fisherman are generally attached by con- 
spicuous loops on both the fly strand 
of gut, as well as on the leader. A little 
consideration will show that this prac- 
tice with two or more flies in wet fly 
fishing, and the conspicuous loops, is one 
of the reasons, perhaps the most im- 
portant reason, aside from the down- 
stream mode of fishing, why dry fly 
fishing is considered by many experts 
to take the largest fish of any water. 
There can be no question but that up- 
stream fly fishing, wet or dry, is more 
creel-filling than the down stream mode, 
and, of course, the dry fly cannot be used 
except as an upstream lure. And there 
can be no question that the less com- 
plicated and less conspicuous the attach- 
ment of flies to tackle, the more trout 
productive will be the efforts of the fish- 
erman. These things seem axiomatic; 
they do not seem to be open to any argu- 
ment whatever. 
At the present time most American fly 
fishermen obtain their sport in waters 
that are much fished and where trout 
are educated as to man’s devices for tak- 
ing them. The time has gone, never 
to return, when the fly fisherman can 
productively slosh heavily downstream, 
casting three flies here and there, as if 
he were casting pork-rind for pickerel. 
If he desires even a few trout he must 
change his methods and change them 
radically. 
Wet fly fishing, when pursued scien- 
tifically, will prove very profitable as to 
the number as well as to the size of the 
catch. The following suggestions are the 
results of many years of careful study 
at the streamside, where I have fre- 
quently spent a full fishing season. I 
might say that during the past five years 
I have taken, by the modes described, a 
very large number of trout, both brown 
and native, and for the waters fished 
many of them of the first trouty magni- 
tude. 
I N wet fly fishing it is important to 
have the leader of a correct length 
and tapered to the most- tenuous and 
slender gut w’hich can be used with 
safety. After much experimentation the 
following leader is suggested for this 
work. It should he from seven and one- 
half to eight feet long, this length for a 
nine foot rod, the rule being that the 
leader should be a foot or so shorter 
than the rod. For in netting a big 
trout a longer leader is dangerous, as a 
(continued on page 370.) 
