am unfamiliar with the best flies out 
your way. 
Wet Flies 
Coachman... .. .aves. «heen, 10, 12, 14 
Cowdunig sa. . «mins erty Os. 12,14 
Catskill ....0.5neh a> ee 10, 12, 14 
Cahill... es.ocents 4.2 eee i012;.14 
Greenwell’s Glory’ sigi.7 ee.» 10, 12 
Black? Griotc: sae ee eee. 14, 16 
Mareh Brown s2222-2. . eee 10, Baye 
Dry Flies 
Royal Coachniani.. .in..e8 10 fanwing 
Cahill (oe eee eee. ss 12; 12 
Quill Gordon wien ce eee nn: > 10, 12 
Lady Beaverkill .ciy oct gees - 10, 12 
Black; Gnatiee. octet eee 14, 16 
Wickham’s: Fancy 50. 9e0- ee: « 10,12 
Whirling *Bine Dun... 10, 12, 14 
FTER each pattern I have mention- 
ed the size in which flies can be 
profitably used. With the above selection 
any good fly fisherman can come pretty 
near catching fish under anything but 
the most unusual conditions. Several 
sizes of the same fly are better than a 
lot of patterns in the same size. If 
fanwing Royal Coachman aren’t to be 
had, get some of the regular model in- 
stead; it’s a splendid fly under many 
conditions. As a wet fly it is a good 
one for native Brook Trout, but not so 
good for Browns and Rainbows. Of 
course there are dozens of patterns 
that are excellent, but the beginner has 
to stop somewhere, and I don’t believe 
he can improve on my lists a great deal. 
After he has paid for a few flies in 
each size of the above patterns, he will 
be willing to “lay off” for a while in 
order to give his pocket a chance to re- 
cover. Don’t buy cheap flies; pay the 
price and get good ones that will hold 
together. 
faye dry fly box will be satisfactory. 
No wet fly book will be. The best 
thing for a little money are the alumi- 
num boxes with felt pads in them for 
wet flies. The pads are superfluous, but 
the boxes hold snelled flies conveniently. 
A willow creel keeps the fish better 
than a canvas one, if it is lined with 
ferns which have been wet occasionally. 
A folding net attached to the coat with 
a button is the most convenient; those 
with elastics to hang around the neck 
are not handy for traveling through the 
brush. By all means get waders and 
brogues instead of rubber hip boots. 
In some of the army supply stores it is 
possible to pick up aviators’ waders and 
brogues for less than fifteen dollars. 
If these can’t be found, get a good pair 
of English light weights and then go to 
the poorhouse; 
little bottle for dry fly oil, fastened to 
the most convenient button with a 
leather harness, is very useful. A 
small brush is stuck in the cork; after 
painting the dry fly with oil, to keep it 
from getting water-soaked, blot the 
surplus oil off against your sleeve or 
handkerchief. I am sure I can safely 
leave you to the tender mercies of the 
tackle salesman for any other cute little 
articles you may decide you need. 
Now I could describe every single 
motion you would make in casting a 
fly. Then you could read every word I 
wrote several times over, learning, 
marking, and inwardly digesting with 
the utmost attention. This would per- 
haps require an hour of your valuable 
time. Then you could go out on the 
lawn and try to cast. After practising 
for another hour or so you might get 
the hang of it. On the other hand I 
can tell you to ask an angling friena 
to show you how to cast; this would re- 
quire several minutes. About ten min- 
utes personal instruction, and you 
would probably have a good idea of 
how it’s done. In spite of the latter 
method being the quickest, I am going 
to hit the high spots of casting, in case 
no angling friend is available. 
H OLD the rod in the right hand, with 
the thumb extended along the top 
side and the reel hanging down. Only 
use the forearm and wrist in learning. 
Remember, the forearm and wrist. And 
when you raise the rod to make the 
back cast, raise it right beside your 
face, so that it will strike the shoulder 
if you try to move it back too far. 
Those are the two most essential things 
to keep in mind, so I say them first. A 
cast is made by picking up the line that 
lies out on the water in front of you, 
throwing it back over your head, letting 
it straighten out in the air behind you, 
and then throwing it forward again on 
to the water. The line is picked up 
with a sharp snappy motion of the 
wrist and forearm, keeping the elbow 
tight against the side. Tie it there if 
you can’t remember any other way. 
When the rod is perpendicular, stop it 
right there. If you keep it near your 
face your shoulder will stop it for you, 
if you keep your elbow tight against 
your side. Then you stand still for a 
second or two in order to let the line 
have time to straighten out in the air 
behind you. If you don’t wait long 
enough, you will either snap off the fly 
or find it impossible to throw the line 
forward again. When the line has 
straightened out, move the rod forward 
sharply, until it makes an angle of 
about 45 degrees with the water, and 
wait for the line to fly out on the water 
in front of you. 
they’re worth it! A. 
Dee try to throw too much line at 
first; about twenty-five feet is plenty. 
Try to make the rod do the work by mov- 
ing it with a quick wrist motion. If you 
wave your whole arm, you won’t be able 
to make the rod work. Don’t wait too 
long for the line to straighten out be- 
hind you, or it will touch the water and 
lose its “life.” On the other hand wait 
long enough. Before leaving this mat- 
ter let me repeat: only use the wrist 
and forearm; keep the elbow tight 
against the side; don’t let the rod go 
further back than the perpendicular; 
let the line just straighten out behind 
you and then throw it forward again. 
We must consider the trout soon, or 
the editor will get nervous. Some years 
ago I used to atempt to tell beginners 
where to look for trout in a stream. I 
still do tell them, but in a slightly dif- 
ferent way: Look everywhere for them. 
If they are feeding on the surface 
you can easily perceive their stations 
in smooth water, although it takes a 
quick eye to catch the tiny splasb 
they make when feeding in fast water 
In general, fish around the rocks. That 
means not only the rocks that stick out 
of the water, but the ones that don’t 
also. Pay lots of attention to the banks 
of the stream if the water is fairly deep 
along them. And fish along the edge 
of fast runs, particularly at the head 
of a pool. Experience will prove the 
only reliable teacher in this matter, and 
she isn’t always infallible. It pays to 
fish all the water until you know just 
where to look—or rather think you do. 
Biest I am going to give you some 
hints on fishing with a wet fly. If 
there is one thing I am satisfied with in 
connection with trout fishing, it is that 
the best way to fish a wet fly is to cast 
it across the current and let it sweep 
down until it is directly below you; 
then cast again, covering a slightly 
different section of water. If you are 
in the middle of a large stream, cast 
first to one side and then to the other. 
Sometimes a fish will take a fly that 
sweeps over him from the right, but he 
won’t touch it if it comes from the left. 
There may be some good reason for 
this, but I don’t know what it is. Don’t 
pull the fly through the water any more 
than is necessary to keep a tight line. 
Always “keep in touch with your fly,” 
so that you can strike immediately on 
the indication of a rise. It is possible 
to strike too quickly when a really big 
fish is concerned, but as a general rule 
for the beginner strike as fast as you 
can. This doesn’t mean as hard as you 
can. The strike should be no more than 
a twitch of the rod, just enough to pick 
‘up any slack and move the point of the 
hook about one sixty-fourth of an inch 
(Continued on page 434) 
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