752 
FOREST AND STREAM 
June 15, 1912 
Imilalion flies used in dry-fly fishin?, the two top rows show¬ 
ing sizes commonly employed in England and the bottom 
row larger flies used on American streams. These are 
exact sizes. 
beginning came that great school of English dry- 
fly fishermen, whose ranks embrace nearly all of 
the most expert fly-fishermen of England, and 
who use the dry fly exclusively in their angl.ng 
for trout. 
To the author, who for several years has 
been a dry-fly enthusiast, this manner of taking 
these cunning game fish seems the most logical, 
the most natural and most successful, under 
many conditions, of all known methods. It truly 
“holds the glass up to nature” and presents an 
imitation winged insect to the trout in the only 
natural way in which it can be presented; in 
fact, the whole theory of dry-fly fishing is based 
upon exact imitation of nature. The flies are 
tied to resemble a natural insect—generally one 
of the duns of the family of the Ephemeridcc — 
in size, shape and color. So far is the exact 
imitation theory carried that counterparts of 
both the male and female insects are made, the 
slight differences between them being clearly 
shown by the skillful fly-tier. As the duns are 
small, with the exception of the May fly, August 
dun and one or two others, so are the imitation 
dry flies minute and tied on very small hooks. 
They are made of materials that will not absorb 
water readily, and, to increase their floating cap¬ 
abilities, the angler anoints them with paraffine 
oil. Not only must these flies be tied in exact 
imitation of natural insects, but their action 
upon the water must resemlfle-the action of the 
living fly. The only motion that one of these 
insects, among the most frail of nature's creat¬ 
ures, can have upon the surface of a stream is 
that naturally imparted by the current. So the 
dry fly must be cast up-stream and allowed to 
float down wherever the current takes it. 
This most fascinating method of fly fishing 
has been well known in England for sixt}^ years 
or more and has become almost the sole method 
of taking trout from many of its celebrated trout 
streams. Little has been known about it in 
America, and many anglers, having heard that 
it was a scientific method invented for use on 
English chalk streams, rivers of gin-like clear¬ 
ness and with gently flowing currents, have 
thoughtlessly come to the conclusion that it was 
not suitable for American streams, in which the 
currents are frequently strong and turbulent; in 
fact, it has often been dismissed as merely an 
English “fad.” 
But is it not reasonable to suppose 
that an exact imitation of a fly upon 
which a trout has been accustomed to 
feed, floating over it precisely as it has 
seen all other insects approach it, would 
be greedily seized by any feeding fish, 
whether its habitat was in English 
streams or in American waters? In 
fact, it is needless to argue this ques¬ 
tion, for a comparatively few American 
enthusiasts have used dry-fly methods 
for years on many streams and have 
succeeded in taking trout under condi¬ 
tions in which the wet fly would prove 
to be entirely unavailing. In early 
spring time, when the water is high, 
turbulent and often discolored, the user 
of the wet fly finds his most favorable 
conditions and gets his big bags of 
trout. But when the streams have gone 
down after the spring freshets are over 
and the water has become low and of 
crystal clearness, the user of the sunken 
fly is often in despair and frequently passes 
many days on the streams without taking a trout 
of respectable dimensions. These are the con¬ 
ditions most eagerly welcomed by the dry-fly 
angler. 
Eishing up-stream, he approaches a trout 
from behind—for all fish lie with their heads 
facing the current—and allows his tiny dry fly, 
tied to a gossamer leader, to fall gently upon 
the surface of the water. There is no splash 
or anything else to startle the trout. The lure 
floats gently down over the fish and is at once 
taken, if the trout happens to be in a feeding 
mood. The English dry-fly “purist,” as he is 
known, fishes only the rise; in other words, he 
remains upon the banks until he sees the rise of 
a trout on the placid waters of the stream 
stretched out before him. He then “stalks” the 
fish. Carefully approaching to within casting 
distance of the rise, he throws the fly so that 
it falls gently upon the water on the spot where 
the rise took place or slightly above it. He then 
waits until he sees another rise before again 
wetting his line. But an angler might pass 
many days upon some of our American streams 
without seeing a good-sized trout rise to the 
surface; so American anglers “fish the stream,” 
casting wherever their judgment or angling in¬ 
stincts tell them that there may be a trout w'orth 
while taking. The author might relate many 
instances of success with the floating fly upon 
American streams, where under the same con¬ 
ditions the wet fly seemed utterly powerless to 
lure the wily trout. 
While, as a matter of fact, a wet-fly fisher¬ 
man need not go to the expense of buying a 
new outfit, with the exception of flies and pos¬ 
sibly leaders, to practice the art of dry-fly ang- 
ling, yet I will describe briefly the tackle best 
suited to this mode of fishing: The rod should 
have considerable backbone and not be weak or 
whippy; the line should be of waterproofed silk, 
heavier than the line ordinarily used in wet-fly 
fishing, and should be tapered at both ends; 
ordinarily the leaders should be nine feet long 
and tapered from a heavy leader at the line end 
to the finest of undrawn gut at the end to which 
the eyed hook is attached. But a single fly is 
used. L^p-stream fishing is the method adopted 
by all dry-fly anglers. The fly, cast up-stream, 
is allowed to float down with the current, while 
the angler carefully strips in with his left hand 
the slack line, being careful, however, not to 
exert any pull upon the fly. After the fly has 
drifted down a short distance, it is carefully 
lifted from the water and another cast is pre¬ 
pared for. Unlike the method of casting with 
the wet fly, the dry fly is not allowed to touch 
the water until it has reached the exact spot 
picked out by the angler, and the line is always 
lengthened by means of false casts or casts in 
the air. Between casts also the fly is whipped 
back and forth in the air a few times to rid 
it of superfluous moisture; in other words, to 
dry the fly. 
The writer strongly advises all beginners 
with the dry fly to fish all good water carefully 
and not to attempt to see how much of the 
length of the stream he may cover in a day. 
“There is no surer sign of an unaccomplished 
dry-fly fisherman than hurrying,” says a cele¬ 
brated expert. If the angler comes to a spot 
that he feels must be the hiding place of a good 
fish, he may to advantage float his fly over this 
one spot many times, and over all good places 
he should cast the fly at least two or three 
times. 
One of the banes of dry-fly fishing is what 
anglers have termed the “drag.” There is a 
Typical American artificial flies—exact sizes used in wet fly-fishing. 
