DRY-FLY FISHING. 
33 
and the fish to look at both with a suspicious eye 
that will make it afraid of an accident to itself. It 
will then be a case of scuttle fish. 
Beyond now putting in practice the above rules at 
the water, there is nothing that need be added save 
this : In dry-fly fishing it is of especial importance 
to hide yourself as much as possible from the fish by 
keeping as far back as you well can from the water’s 
edge, and by availing yourself of any intervening 
objects, such as the stump of a tree, bushes, weeds, 
or rocks; or making your cast kneeling. 
Dry-fly fishing is of little or no use in thick or 
opaque water. It is emphatically the kind of fishing 
for clear chalk-streams, or other clear waters, in 
which, of course, the fish are peculiarly likely to be 
observant and wary of the angler, and of any motion 
whatever. 
Suppose you begin with dace, or, in the autumn, 
with roach. 
If you can catch the former with the dry fly, you 
may be quite sure you can catch trout or grayling. 
But do not vex a trout stream until you can catch 
them. And when you can catch trout or grayling 
with the dry fly you have a source of felicity in store 
for you on which I may congratulate you. 
Assiduous practice of the above rules and exercises 
will, I venture to say, make any angler a dry-fly 
fisherman. But do not expect to become an expert 
in a year ; it will require more than one season to 
enable you to do it really well. And all is not learnt 
in the art when you can cast your dry fly well. I 
have only given you a Primer. To make you a 
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