DRY-FLY FISHING. 2q 
such serious consequence, but in a smooth or very- 
clear water it is fatal. 
But as the fly floats down, you must be gradually 
raising the point of your rod so as to be ready to 
strike a fish or to recover your fly delicately for 
another cast. 
Let not the learner give too intensive a force to 
that word “ strike,” if he value fish or tackle. It 
always seems to me a word only applicable to 
mahseer fishing. “Nick” would be a fitter, were 
it not such an ugly word. Any way, a slight twitch 
of the wrist downwards and upwards is all the force 
that it requires, and if only the line be taut it hardly 
requires that, unless the rod be a very supple one. 
For a similar reason to one above given, I would 
add, Do not use looped flies. Besides its great visi- 
bility, the loop is another check to the fly. Its only 
advantage is to pamper laziness. 
The little trouble of attaching the fly to the cast 
by the fisherman’s knot, or, if an eyed-hook be used, 
by the jam knot, is more than compensated by the 
uniform fineness of the cast, and the help it affords 
to its natural floating. 
Avoid haste in making the knot, or you will pay 
the penalty in the loss of the best fish. “The more 
haste the less speed.” 
