Apkil 27, 1912 
FOREST AND STREAM 
52.9 
him no more about myself than common cour¬ 
tesy demanded that I should. I gave him to 
understand that I was employed by an agricul¬ 
tural journal, also that I was combining pleasure 
with business. As I told him this he gave his 
mouth a comical pucker as he responded: “I 
thought you were having fun when I first saw 
you.” As a picture of my lugubrious counte¬ 
nance, reflected by his own on the occasion of 
our meeting came before my mental vision, its 
humor affected my risibles and I yielded to bois¬ 
terous mirth in which he joined heartily. .Then 
we shook hands and were good friends. 
That afternoon we made a little trip of ex¬ 
ploration along the creek, John pointing out to 
me the stalks of the edible tubers which lent 
bulk' to our morning repast. Presently we 
came to a little branch, the water of which came 
from a spring under the gnarled roots of a 
clump of dwarf oaks as clear as crystal. Hav¬ 
ing no cups with us, we lay flat on our stomachs 
and each took a hearty draft. It was refresh¬ 
ingly cool and we congratulated ourselves on our 
lucky find. I had no sooner risen to my feet, 
however, than I remarked a peculiar metallic 
taste in my mouth, and on speaking of it to 
John, he said he noticed the same thing. We 
thought no more about it till we had returned 
to camp. We were beginning preparations for 
dinner when John grabbed his • stomach and 
howled with pain, declaring he had cramps. I 
had just gone to my saddle bags for a bottle 
of “pain-killer” when I, too, . was suddenly 
doubled up with cramps. 
“It’s that blasted water,” said John, rolling on 
the ground in torment. “I’ve been told there 
was arsenic in the water of these plains, and 
that’s what made that coppery taste in our 
mouths.” 
“What can we take to help us?” I asked, 
thoroughly alarmed. 
“I saw a couple of bird’s eggs in a nest down 
in the scrub,” said he, “and if they’re fresh 
they’ll counteract the blame poison if we can get 
’em in time,” and we made all speed possible 
in reaching the nest. As we approached a bird 
flew off, and instead of the two eggs that John 
said he saw there on our former visit, there 
were now three. Without questioning whether 
they belonged to buzzard or pigeon, we each 
downed an egg with all possible alacrity and 
sat down to nurse our stomachs. 
I It is probable that the water was but slightly 
, impregnated with poison, if indeed that was the 
source of our trouble, for the intense pain soon 
I abated, and with the exception of a slight nausea 
which remained for several hours, we were as 
well as ever. Mentioning the circumstance to 
an old stager several months afterward, he said 
! the symptoms were those of arsenical poisoning, 
I but he was not aware that arsenic existed in the 
streams of that locality. In some parts of Ari- 
[ zona, he said, the arsenic could be seen in the 
^ bottoms of the streams, the waters of which 
were so highly impregnated that a single mouth¬ 
ful might prove fatal. Travelers in that locality 
I had a test for water and he explained it to me, 
but I have forgotten it now. 
j As John and I had used the water of the main 
[ stream with impunity, taking it at a point sev¬ 
eral rods further down, we were satisfied that 
the amount of poison was very small, or that 
the stream purified itself. We took the precau¬ 
tion, however, to get our subsequent supply from 
a point still further down stream, and we suf¬ 
fered no ill results from its use. 
The day being far spent when we finished 
dinner, we decided to camp there another night 
and make an early start the next morning, em¬ 
ploying the daylight in overhauling our accoutre¬ 
ments and making some necessary repairs. John 
was a wonderfully handy fellow and seemed to 
enjoy puttering over the traps, hence I was will¬ 
ing to contribute to his enjoyment by permitting 
him to do a triflle of mending for me. 
1 AM asked so many questions in regard to 
dry-fly fishing nowadays that I think it will 
be best to answer them and condense my ex¬ 
perience in the form of a short article or letter. 
One of the most common queries is, “Do you 
think it necessary to grease the line?” I know 
A NICE CREEL OF BROWN TROUT. 
several good anglers of much experience who 
always “fat” their lines when fishing with a dry 
fly, but personally I do not like it, and rarely 
use mutton or red deer fat or tallow. The leader 
is apt to receive a share of the grease and floats 
upon the surface in a way that to me is most 
disagreeable. I prefer to have the gut-casting 
line just under the surface, while the fly is float¬ 
ing quite dry and cocked. There may be noth¬ 
ing in it, but I think the connection of the line 
with the fly is much better disguised when the 
leader is below the surface. It certainly looks 
much more attractive to the angler, and I think 
that shy trout can scarcely fail to notice that 
straight line of gut right up to the floating fly. 
“What flies are best for dry fly work?” This 
is a large and interesting subject, but the fact 
is that many of our well known patterns will kill 
well if dressed dry fly fashion with plenty of 
hackle (legs). Cahills, Wickhams, alders and 
many others have been used successfully. The 
quill-bodied flies absorb but little moisture, are 
easier to dry, and need not be so full in the 
We talked ourselves to sleep again that night 
as we had done on the previous day, with the 
exception that we had an additional fund of 
topics based upon current happenings. John was 
an entertaining story teller, and what is equally 
important, a good listener. I wish I could re¬ 
produce some of his tales, though without his 
inimitable intonation and humor I have no doubt 
they would seem flat. 
[to be continued.] 
hackle. But if you use the “oil tip,” as it used 
to be called, even a wool-bodied fly can be floated 
without much labor. Kerosene is good enough 
for practical purposes, vaseline will answer, and 
there are a number of special preparations made 
e.xpressly to anoint the flies. There are others 
which are used for the line. If you oil your 
fly too generously, it will sink, but the surplus 
oil will soon wash off and then the fly floats 
well. 
As to the rod, one with plenty of backbone is 
desirable, but one may fish dry with any good 
stream fishing rod. When I first became en¬ 
thused with the floating fly many years ago, I 
had what we would now call a black bass fly- 
rod, made to order. It was excessively stiff and 
very hard to fish with. My arm would ache so 
at night after a day’s casting that I could not 
sleep, and I have had rheumatism in that arm 
many times since. In our stream fishing, long 
casting is the exception, not the rule. Still, I 
must admit that I prefer a fairly powerful rod, 
and many rods are sold at moderate prices that 
are quite stiff enough, yet are easy to cast with. 
The stiffer the rod. the heavier the I'ne required 
to bring out its action. 
A man who has fished up stream in a low 
water with worm or fly has learned where the 
trout lie, and if no fish are rising he will know 
where to float his fly. There may be no insects 
upon the water, but the trout may be in position 
ready to feed, and will rise at any passing in¬ 
sect. I began with the idea that I must see the 
rise of a trout before casting my fly, as I had 
been reading books upon chalk stream angling 
in England. 
I received much help from R. B. Marston and 
F. M. Halford. They assisted me greatly in se¬ 
lecting patterns, and I had read Mr. Halford s 
books. He was so kind as to send me a large 
number of floating flies in order that I might be 
able to make a selection of those most suitable 
and killing upon American waters. 
Good anglers always help one another. For 
several years I always carried a box containing 
about fifteen dozen of the best English tied flies 
to trv whenever I saw decent trout rising. One 
afternoon I liad a little experience that was help¬ 
ful. I had been fishing the rapids up stream 
with two flies when I came upon a fine reach of 
smooth, gliding waters, and sat down at the tail 
end to smoke a pine and rest. 'While sitting 
there I spotted three good trout rising at the 
A Plain Talk About the Dry Fly 
By THEODORE GORDON 
