Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Figure 1.
In Fig. 2 is shown the method of knotting together two strands of gut in tying a leader or making repairs in one. The two half-hitches should be pulled perfectly tight and then drawn together.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
For attaching the leader to the line use the jam-knot shown in Fig. 3.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
If you wish to attach a dropper fly to a dry-flyleader without loops use the method shown In Fig. 4, attaching at a point where two strands are knotted together.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
So many intricate details are connected with the subject of artificial flies, and with dry or floating flies particularly, that in order to reduce the discussion of the matter herein to a not inordinate length many points must of necessity be merely touched upon.
In later chapters, the efficiency of various patterns, as well as how and when to use them, will be discussed; at this point we are concerned chiefly with the purely material details of the "floater."
The construction of the dry fly differs considerably from that of the wet, but as this is a matter pertaining rather to the art of the fly dresser the subject need not be considered as imperatively within the province of the present discussion. It has previously been noted that at present the larger part of the dry flies obtainable in this country are imported fromEngland. The tendency of the tackle dealers is to furnish comparatively few of the familiar American patterns tied dry.
The dry fly is, of course, dressed with the purpose of causing it to float as well as may be, and this is effected—although the method of construction varies to some extent with various patterns—by dressing the fly with double or "split" wings tied at right angles to the body (called "erect" wings) and with the hackling arranged to stand out well from the shank of the hook. The body of the fly is dressed very lightly and in some instances is of cork, straw or quill.
In the case of some of the latest patterns horsehair is used for the body material. As a rule dry flies are dressed upon small hooks, number twelve and smaller, and the hooks are of light wire. A list of floating flies which have been found effective on American trout streams is given in a later paragraph.
Almost without exception floating flies are dressed on eyed hooks; that is, without gut snells whipped to the shank of the hook, following the time-honored American custom, but with an eye or ring at the end of the shank by means of which the fly is attached directly to the leader. If space permitted the practicaladvantages of the eyed hook could very well be emphasized in detail; at present I can only urge every fly fisherman to adopt the use of the eyed fly for either dry or wet fly-fishing. If for no other reason than that of economy, the use of the eyed hook justifies itself: the feelings of the angler, who when looking over and testing his tackle for the approaching trout season pulls the snells without difficulty out of an even two dozen of the old-style trout flies which have never even been once used, are best left to the imagination.
Eyed hooks are made in two styles, with turned-up and turned-down eye; that is, in the case of the turned-down eye the eye is on the under side of the hook shank or bent toward the barb of the hook, the opposite being true of the other form. Much controversy has taken place regarding the respective merits of the two styles of eyed hooks, various authorities enthusiastically and convincingly championing either one or the other. It would seem that each form has its virtues and is quite satisfactory. Undoubtedly the reader, impartially experimenting with both styles, will soon discover which is best—for him. The greater part of the floating flies which come to this country are dressed on turned-up eyed hooks.
As to the form of the hook, whether Sproat, Pennell (turned-down), O'Shaughnessy, Sneck, and so on, it is a matter in which one cannot exercise personal choice to any great extent—one must needs be contented with the flies as he finds them. Hooks with the Sneck bend are favored for the smaller patterns; others may be dressed on any of the above-named hooks. Unless you are willing, many times, to undergo great delay in stocking your fly box, you must sacrifice a personal prejudice toward any particular form of hook for the sake of obtaining the pattern you wish in the desired size.
I give below a list of a few floating flies which I know to be successful under average angling conditions, and would suggest that in making your selection of dry flies you obtain some, at least, of the patterns dressed upon number ten hooks. The use of the very small English patterns, tied, as a rule, on number twelve hooks at the largest, is not at all times and in all places most advantageous on American trout streams. The flies named are, as far as may be, typical; that is, selected with a view to approximately imitating the general insect life (consisting largely of water-bred insects) of any trout stream, so that the angler may as a general thing find in his list a fairly closeimitation of most of the natural flies, any one of which may be temporarily abundant on the water, and upon which there is reason to believe the fish are feeding.
The list is as follows: Coachman, Cahill, gold-ribbed hare's ear, Wickham's fancy, brown sedge, silver sedge, iron blue dun, whirling blue dun, and olive dun. These should be dressed upon hooks, numbers twelve and ten. It is seldom necessary to use smaller than a number twelve dry-fly, although, of course, occasionally only the very smallest flies are effective. To the flies named should be added the green May female, brown May female, and spent gnat female, of the new series of floating flies developed by Mr. F. M. Halford.
Of the above the coachman, Wickham's fancy, gold-ribbed hare's ear and Cahill are frankly "fancy" flies, not intended to represent any particular natural fly. The Wickham's fancy, coachman and gold-ribbed hare's ear are wonderfully successful patterns, as a rule, throughout the entire season, and under a great variety of angling conditions. The Cahill is a fly of very delicate coloration and dressing and is particularly useful over very low and clear water. The duns, olive, whirling blue and iron blue are dressed in imitationof various ephemera in the sub-imago or dun stage, and when the fish are feeding upon the natural fly these are apt to prove exceedingly successful.
The green and brown May fly patterns are representative of the corresponding Ephemeridæ, and their usefulness upon streams when and where the May fly is abundant is sufficiently obvious. The Caddis flies in the nomenclature of the dry fly are known as "sedges"; the silver sedge and brown sedge belong to this class. The spent gnat pattern represents the female May fly which, having voided her eggs upon the water, thereafter falls upon the surface of the stream practically lifeless and with wings flat and outstretched. The spent gnat, accordingly, is dressed with horizontal, not erect, wings.
For carrying eyed-flies various fly-boxes are furnished by the tackle dealers. The method of holding the flies is usually by means of a metal clip, although some boxes have several small compartments with transparent (celluloid) covers, and others have cork strips into which the fly may be fastened. The last sort is the least satisfactory. As a rule, in the ordinary form of eyed fly box the metal clips are set very closely together, and it isadvisable to procure a box capable of holding at least double the number of flies you intend to carry, so that they may be inserted without crushing and be easily distinguished and removed.
Paraffin oil, or some one of the other similar waterproofing liquids furnished by the tackle dealers, is a necessity to the dry-fly caster. A floating fly, if perfectly dry, will float fairly well for a number of casts without the use of paraffin; but it soon becomes drowned and sodden and very difficult to dry out by merely false casting. Whatever preparation may be used (and I have found very little practical difference in them) it should be carried in a small bottle having a stopper with brush attached. Apply the oil to the fly lightly, and remove the superfluous liquid by pressing the fly between folds in your handkerchief. It is usually practicable to prepare a number of flies in this way before going to the stream, thus obviating the the necessity of carrying the "oiler."
It would seem unnecessary to consider the matter of the creel, waders and other general fly-fishing equipment, as these are familiar to every fly-fisherman of any experience. However, for the benefit of the virtual beginner it may be said that a rather larger basket thanthat usually advised to the trout-fisherman say a creel of twenty-pound size—is preferable for many reasons. The new style sling, which suspends the basket from the left shoulder, should be used.
Waders, of course, are necessary. Whether wading pants, wading stockings, or ordinary sporting rubber boots are worn is more or less a personal matter generally dependent upon the conditions under which the fishing will be done. The wading stockings, worn with woolen socks and hobnailed wading shoes, are as a rule the most satisfactory equipment. A leader-box in which extra leaders may be carried between pads of dampened felt and a landing net are other requisites.
How to Cast the Floating Fly
The sportsman who has fished only with the wet fly may rest assured that should he take up dry fly fishing he will discover a renewed interest in the sport of fly fishing for trout, which, perhaps, through custom, may have lost something of its former charm. Moreover, in dry fly fishing he will find a sport of such wide scope that, it is safe to say, he will never consider himself other than a beginner in the art. For the scientifically inclined sportsman—the man who chronically seeks to know the "reason why"—it is difficult to name any outdoor recreation which would prove more to his liking or more worthy of serious research and study in its various branches, particularly that dealing with the entomology of the trout stream.
In photographic work most people are perfectly willing to "follow the directions," trusting that the results will be good enough, and caring little for intimate knowledge of thescientific details of the various processes which produce the completed photograph. This, certainly, is not at all the state of mind with which to take up dry fly fishing, or, for that matter, angling of any sort. In fact, the dry fly man should be a student of causes as well as of effects, for the simple reason that only in comparatively rare instances can the desired effect be produced unless the angler knows the underlying cause and proceeds to utilize it practically. This is particularly true of the selection and manipulation of the floating fly and, in a lesser but quite considerable degree, of casting the fly.
Almost every book on angling contains a more or less understandable treatise on fly-casting, and it is only for the benefit of the virtual beginner at fly-fishing for trout, and further with a view to completeness and the emphasizing of certain points which even the old hand is prone to forget or possibly neglect through carelessness that the following brief explanation is incorporated here. Casting the floating fly differs little essentially from the manner of casting the sunken fly; in detail, however, the difference is very great.
Casting the floating fly divides naturally into two quite distinct phases; first, the actual castwhich places the fly, cocked and floating, upon the surface of the stream; second, the subsequent manipulation of the fly in such a manner that its action approximates with all possible fidelity the action of the natural fly—the fly must float in the exact manner of the natural fly under like circumstances. Granting judicious selection of the fly in the first instance and some skill and finesse in placing it, it is with the correct action of the fly—after all the most important thing in the whole art of dry fly fishing—that the sportsman has chiefly to deal, and the dealing is not always of the easiest.
It should go without saying that properly and effectively to cast and fish the floating fly it is essential that the tackle be correctly assembled. In this regard I believe the point most in need of emphasis is the question of the right way to fit the reel to the rod; that this should be done so that the reel is underneath the rod with its handle to the right (in the case of the right-handed caster) is in my experience the only satisfactory and thoroughly efficient way. With the reel thus placed it is never necessary, when playing a fish, to turn the rod over so that the reel is above, as in the case when the reel is fitted to the rod with the handle to the left. After a fish is struck, if it becomesnecessary to use the reel, the rod is simply shifted to the left hand—without the awkward necessity of turning it over to bring the reel on top—and the fingers of the right hand fall naturally upon the handle of the reel.
Of the English books on the subject of dry fly fishing I have seen only those of Mr. Halford. In "Dry Fly Fishing," by this author, the cut illustrating the proper grip of the rod shows the reel rigged underneath the rod with its handle to the left, and this is the method advised by the author. It may be said with certainty that this manner of assembling rod and reel is not sanctioned by the majority of American fly-fishermen.
The manner of casting a fly is best described by an explanation of the overhead cast—the typical cast although by no means the one exclusively used in fly fishing, and in dry fly fishing, for reasons stated below, a cast which is used only when the horizontal cast is for any reason rendered difficult. Having assembled rod, reel, line, leader, and fly, using the knots shown in Chapter III., and taking pains to see that the leader before bending on the fly and attaching to the line has been previously well-softened by soaking in the leader-box, proceed to make the overhead cast as follows.
In the case of the beginner at fly-casting, the first practice casting may best be done casting downstream as the current will help to straighten out the line and leader. Two distinct motions constitute the complete overhead cast; first the back cast which throws the line behind the caster, then the forward cast which returns it in the desired direction. Fifteen or twenty feet is enough line to use for the first practice casting. The right hand should grip the rod firmly with the thumb extended along the upper surface of the handgrasp—this is the only proper grip of the rod and is a distinct factor for accuracy in placing the fly and also tends to make the caster use his wrist.
Good casting results only from utilizing the elasticity of the rod; the casting power of the rod is brought into play in one way only—by using the wrist in casting. Keep the elbow low.
In the back cast swing the rod smartly up to a position but slightly beyond the vertical and inclined a little toward the right so that the line when passing to the rear, or returning, will not tend to strike the rod. In the back cast throw the line up in order that there may be no possibility of its falling upon the water behind you—a high back cast is very essential.Lift the line from the water quickly and neatly. Care must be taken not to carry the rod too far back—only a little beyond the perpendicular—as this will inevitably result in loss of control over the line.
Instantaneous photography has conclusively proved the fallacy of the orthodox advice of the older school of angling writers, to "wait for the line to straighten out behind you" before starting the forward cast. This fact was noted sometime ago in a short paper in one of the outdoor periodicals and the writer at once proceeded to verify it—since which time I have often seen in print the old, familiar warning to the novice stated above. However, it is now generally recognized by well-informed anglers that when casting any fair length of line there is a considerable loop of line and leader which straightens out only after the forward cast has been started; that, in fact, the right time to begin the forward motion of the rod is when the line first begins to pull noticeably on the tip of the rod—a psychological moment soon readily recognized after a little practice. To avoid weakening the leader by whipping, or in rare instances snapping off the fly, the forward cast should not be started too forcefully.
Start the forward motion of the rod, then,when the line, having passed to the rear, begins to pull back on the rod-tip, and carry the rod forward and down with increasing speed, stopping it when it is a little beyond parallel with the water. Before beginning another back cast be careful to reel or strip in any slack line. The beginner should concentrate on casting accurately and delicately; ability to cover average fishing distances is soon gained without much conscious effort to that end. As for accuracy, the dry fly man cannot possibly over-rate its importance or more profitably seek to perfect himself in any other branch of the sport. Particularly when casting to a rising fish, other things being equal, everything depends upon accuracy.
At this point it seems best to note the matter of the use of the left hand in fly-casting for the purpose of controlling the rendition and retrieve of the line while casting, playing a trout, or floating a dry fly. In brief, the caster should control the line, practically at all times, by holding it in his left hand, as it comes from the reel, stripping in the line through the guides of the rod when it should be shortened, or allowing it to run out through the fingers when a longer line is needed in casting or when giving line to a hooked fish.
It should be understood that the left hand,when used in this manner, need not be held in an awkward position, that is, close up to the reel, but may be held in a natural way at about the waist-line; it is simply a matter of the length of the loop of line drawn out by the left hand between the reel and the first guide of the rod. When this loop for any reason becomes so long that there may be a possibility of fouling it may be taken care of by shifting the rod to the left hand, clipping the line to the handgrasp of the rod beneath the fingers of the left hand, and winding up the superfluous slack line.
The beginner should accustom himself to handling the line in this way when first learning the use of the fly-rod; later it will be all the more difficult to master since at the same time he will be under the necessity of correcting other casting habits which may have become almost second nature. Further reference to this manner of manipulating the line—a most important factor in effective fly casting and fishing—will be found in connection with various subjects such as playing and landing a trout, methods of preventing drag, and so on; in fact, in one way or another the method is essentially a part of practically every phase of the purely manual side of dry or wet fly fishing.
It has been noted above that the overheadcast, although the typical cast and the one, by the way, with which the greatest accuracy and distance may be attained, is less used in dry fly fishing than the horizontal; in the latter the rod, in the back and forward casts, moves in a plane about parallel with the water. The reason for this preference is a very real and practical one although difficult to explain in detail; the fact of the matter is, however, that the horizontal cast is far more apt to cock the fly—to place it upon the surface of the stream with its wings upright and not floating on its side—than is the overhead.
The reader should carefully note the above point and, wherever it may be possible, always employ the horizontal cast. It would not do to say that every trout would refuse to rise to the fly when floating down on its side—although I have seen a statement made to that effect; but with shy fish the probability of a rise to the correctly cocked and floating fly is greater than to the fly coming down upset. Apart from the known advantage of the horizontal cast cocking the fly is a matter quite beyond the caster's control.
Where there is smoothly flowing water with little chance of drag, and little if any wind, if the fly is cast with some skill it will float properly with wings upright more often thannot. If the horizontal cast cannot be used, owing to the conformation of the banks or other reasons, the caster in employing the overhead cast should direct his fly at an imaginary point in the air some two or three feet directly above the spot where he intends to place the fly; the greater delicacy in delivering the fly resulting from this will tend to multiply the chances of cocking the fly.
As I have said, the horizontal cast is made by swinging the rod, in the back and forward casts, in a plane parallel with, or slightly above, the water. The back of the caster's hand should be turned toward the water, the fingers uppermost. The attempt to cast too long a line, or the slightest delay in starting the forward cast, will cause the fly to fall upon the water behind you—a thing to be religiously avoided.
The above includes the essential details of the first phase of casting the dry fly—the actual cast which places the fly, cocked and floating, upon the water over a trout which has been seen to rise or where the angler may have reason to believe a fish is lying, the latter being more frequently the case upon American streams. We come now to the second phase of dry fly casting, the subsequent manipulation ofthe fly in such a manner that it simulates as accurately as possible the action of the natural fly floating in a like position. The importance of simulating with all possible fidelity the action of the natural insect has previously been emphasized; the subject is one of very broad application, but at present we may note merely the necessity of upstream casting.
I believe that printed briefs for or against up or down stream fishing with the fly are wearisome to the average well-read and experienced angler; wherefore brevity in discussing this point seems advisable. As regards wet fly fishing any broad-minded angler willingly concedes that under certain conditions it is best to fish the stream up and under other conditions to fish down. The dry fly man, however, has no option in the matter; regardless of all other factors for upstream fishing, the practical fact remains that the floating fly cannot be fished downstream for when thus cast it is drowned almost at once.
But even if this were not the case the application of the rule of exact imitation of nature upon which dry fly fishing is based would prove the method of casting downstream and pulling the fly up against the trend of the current wholly wrong. Even the wet fly should neverbe fished in this way. Parenthetically, the present writer has always recognized a distinction between fishing downstream and casting downstream; the progress of the angler may be with the direction of the current—always most advantageous upon the swift and rocky mountain trout stream—while the actual casting may be cross-current, a very effective way of fishing the wet fly under normal conditions, or upstream and slightly across if desirable. When upon the water the natural insect floats downstream as the current directs it; wherefore, as invariably as may be, the dry fly caster should cast upstream, allowing the fly to float down toward him without restraint from the line, following the natural trend of the current.
Leaving aside for later discussion the matter of drag, a state of affairs wherein the artificial fly tends to travel at an unnatural rate due to conflicting currents in the stream which affect line and fly differently, and also passing over for the moment certain other points more or less intimately connected with the advisability of upstream casting, there remains for present consideration the matter of false casting, or drying the fly.
As a rule, when casting a fair amount ofline, the fly will be quite free from moisture—if previously well-waterproofed—when the angler has again lengthened out his line after having made a cast and allowed the fly to float down over the water he desired to cover. Unless the fly has become thoroughly soaked four or five false casts are enough. These should be made as gently as possible to avoid whipping the fly; the constant casting tends to shred the wings, and if this results the fly loses much of its natural appearance and is more difficult to cock.
The longer the line used when drying the fly the longer distance the fly travels through the air; thus a lesser number of false casts are necessary to dry it. But it is better to take more time, use a shorter line and more casts, and endeavor not to whip the fly out of shape. After playing and landing a fish the fly will be thoroughly soaked and draggled. Ordinarily it is then best to put up a new fly; if this seems unnecessary, much of the water can be removed by holding the fly close to the mouth and blowing off the moisture, after which the wings should be nursed into their original form.
Where and When to Use the Floating Fly
Before going further into the details of casting and fishing the dry fly it would be well to consider at some length the question of the best times and the most favorable places when and where the angler would be wise to depend solely upon the floater. That the fascination of dry fly fishing is such that many fly-fishermen elect to practice no other method under any and all conditions goes without saying, but the fact remains that under average American fly-fishing conditions the floating fly is sometimes at a disadvantage and the average American angler may well accept this fact with good grace, using the dry or sunken fly turn and turn about as the occasion determines. In this I do not wish to be understood as holding any brief for the wet as against the dry fly for any such reason as that "bigger bags" may at times be killed with the wet fly than with the dry—it is merely a questionof a few good fish taken by fair methods under the prevailing conditions. If these may be taken by dry fly casting, so much the better; if not, then assuredly the average angler, whose fishing trips are few and to whom a moderate success on the stream seems very desirable, may have recourse to the wet fly without losing caste. That, at times, nothing can be done fishing dry is a fact easily susceptible of proof.
Personally I have never so fully enjoyed fly-fishing as I have since taking up the dry fly, which I have now come to use almost exclusively and often when I know perfectly well that more success would attend the use of the sunken fly. This, however, I take to be a strictly personal matter; my fishing opportunities are many, and although I am on the stream a great deal (during the last ten years at the very least four days a week throughout the season) it is only infrequently that I go out with any great desire to "catch fish." To the general run of trout-fishermen, for the reasons stated above, I would not advise the exclusive use of the dry fly; if, on the other hand, the angler elects to practice this method to the exclusion of all others, that is his affair—and a matter for congratulation.
It would seem that the ideal conditions for the dry fly are somewhat as follows: A clear, smoothly flowing stream, whether fast or slow being immaterial if the surface is not too broken; the stage of water should be normal, although at the lower levels, as the season advances, everything is in favor of the dry as against the wet fly; finally, insect life should be fairly abundant on the stream and the trout feeding more or less at the surface on the natural fly.
In the early days of the season, when the stream is apt to be in flood and the water very cold and more or less discolored, the wet or sunken fly is plainly indicated. Until, with the progress of spring, air and water have grown warm, and the bright sunshine brings on the natural ephemeridae, the fish are usually ground-feeding, or feeding in mid-water, and will rise only infrequently to the fly fished upon the surface. At such times the fly caster who holds to the employment of the dry fly is doomed to disappointment.
In fact, it would seem that fly-fishing under these conditions should be done more along the lines of bass or salmon fly-fishing—not with the idea of simulating even approximately the natural insect food of the fish but rather withthe purpose of exciting the trout and inducing them to strike by the use of a glittering or highly colored fly which, fished considerably beneath the surface, arouses their curiosity or anger or may be taken for a small minnow. This style of fishing with the fly is distinctly on a lower level than the correct imitation of the natural floating insect by means of the dry fly; nevertheless, in fairness to the many fishermen whose days on the stream are rare and eagerly anticipated with attendant hopes of some practical success, I cannot but advise the use of the sunken fly under the conditions named or when, at any time during the season, somewhat similar conditions prevail.
In an average season the dry fly man may confidently expect success on suitable water from about the first of May to the last days of the open time. The trout streams are now clear and at or below the normal stage of water; the temperature of the water is rising steadily; the observant fly-fisherman will note the natural ephemeridae abundant at intervals over and on the stream—and there is no sight in nature (at least from the writer's viewpoint and, I fancy, from that of all other trout fly-fishermen) more interesting or more wonderful than a good hatch of duns. Withthe advance of the season and the usual gradual falling of the water, conditions ever grow more and more in favor of the dry and against the wet fly.
I could easily cite numerous instances which have occurred in both my own experience and in that of other anglers which go to prove the effectiveness of the floating fly on low, clear water, late in the season, when the wet fly is usually ineffectual. Without, however, going into narrative detail, it should be sufficiently obvious that, under the conditions named, a very delicately dressed floating fly, in appearance quite similar to the natural ephemeridae common to the stream, attached to a practically invisible leader and riding down buoyantly on the surface, with wings erect, in the exact, jaunty manner of the natural dun, is far more apt to deceive the fish than two or more wet flies, shapeless and draggled, of dubious coloration, pulled across or against the current in a manner never followed by the natural insect. Wherever a fly may be floated the dry fly is distinctly the thing for late spring and summer fishing.
Much has been said and written concerning the character of the streams favorable for the employment of the dry fly—that is, as regardsthe natural characteristics of the water itself, whether fast or slow in current, smooth or broken, shallow or deep, and so on. The dry fly having originated upon the placid currents of the south of England rivers, it is only natural that the impression should prevail that a floating fly can be used effectively only on a slow stream. The practice and experience of American fly-casters has thoroughly proved this an erroneous theory. It may be truthfully said that the dry fly may be successfully used upon all except white water.
It is not the rate of the current which determines the suitability of the floating fly to any given stream; wherever the surface of the water is unbroken the dry fly works well, but where white water prevails, although the angler may persist in the use of the dry fly, actual dry fly fishing is impossible, the fly can only be made to float for an infinitesimal length of time, is almost immediately drowned by a wave or drawn under by a whirlpool, and the result is a hybrid sort of angling in the nature of wet fly fishing with a dry fly.
The point has been made that even under these conditions it is best to use the dry fly on the ground that, dry or wet, the floating fly is materially, in form and coloration, a betterimitation of the natural fly than is the average wet fly. Under like circumstances the natural insect acts in a similar manner, that is, is drawn under the surface in broken water and carried here and there by conflicting currents. For some time it has been my custom to use dry flies for wet fly fishing, but I would emphasize the fact that fishing a drowned dry fly in white water is hardly genuine dry fly fishing and that any resultant success must be accredited to the wet fly method. Any statement to the effect that the dry fly may be used in the rapids of any trout stream where white water is the rule must be taken with a grain of salt and with due allowance for the enthusiasm of the man who makes it.
In any stream the swift runs where the water is smooth may be very effectively fished with the dry fly; taking an average of American trout streams, excepting the smaller rocky, mountain brooks (generally a succession of shallow, rough rapids with comparatively few smooth places) it may be said that a fly may be quite successfully floated over probably three-quarters of the water comprised. By smooth water I do not wish to be understood as meaning absolutely flat water—the floating fly will ride a wave or a succession of themwith surprising buoyancy; but if the crests of the waves are broken into miniature "white-caps" then the fly is soon drowned. The wet fly, or wet fly methods, should be followed wherever the water is of the latter description. The writer's own custom when fishing a stream wherein smooth and white water alternate constantly is to use a single dry fly, a coachman or Wickham's fancy, casting dry or wet as the nature of the stream may seem to render expedient.
In line with a general discussion of the times and localities when and where the dry fly is indicated it should possibly be noted that dry fly casting, as the more clever method and designed particularly for the purpose of angling for educated trout, should be favored over wet fly fishing on any stream which is whipped a great deal by wet fly fishermen. That the trout of such a stream grow "gut shy" and exceedingly canny and, at best, when the stream is clear and natural insect food somewhat abundant, rise reluctantly to the wet fly, is axiomatic. In view of the fine tackle, the finesse, and the fidelity to nature afforded by the dry fly method it would seem that no angler could for a moment doubt the efficacy of the floating fly under such circumstances. On theother hand, I believe—although practical experimentation has never yet been possible—that a skilfully fished wet fly, on a stream where dry fly fishing has become the rule, might, on occasion, by the very novelty of the thing, be made to do wonders.
Finally, as regards the general question of when and where to use the dry fly, let me emphasize the fact that, for success, the sportsman must have confidence in the floater and use it constantly wherever he may consistently do so—that he must not consider his box of dry flies as merely supplementary to his familiar, old-time book of wet flies, but must give preference to the dry fly method, consider himself, in fact, a dry fly fisherman, and have recourse to the wet fly only when his common fishing sense advertises the fact that the floater is not the thing for the time being.
Sporadic experimentation with the dry fly when the wet has failed, although frequently successful in its purpose, is not a true test of the efficacy of the method when followed consistently, for the degree of true sport which the dry fly is capable of affording. Of all forms of angling, the phrase "it is not all of fishing to catch fish" is most true of fishing with the floating fly.
Coming now to the question of when and where to fish the floating fly on water evidently suitable therefor, in view of the fact that the American dry fly caster of necessity usually fishes the water rather than the rise, it is evident that the fly-fisherman must depend upon his knowledge of trout haunts and habits in the determination of this matter. Given a stream fairly abundantly stocked with trout, eitherfontinalis, the native speckled brook trout,fario, the brown trout, or with rainbows, where the most, the best, or any trout will be found, is to a considerable extent a matter of time and temperature—notwithstanding which the careful angler, and in particular the dry fly fisherman, will proceed to fish all the water except such as may be known to be barren of trout.
In general, trout will be found at the head and foot of riffles and rapids; at the head and tail of pools; in the lee of rocks in swift runs; under shady, shelving banks and boulders and similar "hides"; particularly in warm weather, where small, cold, spring-fed brooks enter the trout stream; and anywhere where the set of the current, as in little bays and on the bends, is such as to collect insect food in quantity. Really the angler need only remember that trout require cold, moving, and aërated water, especiallybrook trout, and the same thing is true of brown trout in somewhat lesser degree.
To enlarge upon the matter further would be impracticable here. In point of fact, stream experience alone will enable the angler to spot confidently and with precision the places where a good trout may be lying. Each trout taken by an observant fly-fisherman adds to the angler's sum of knowledge regarding "where the trout hide"; it would seem that a mental picture of the place is retained subconsciously—the trend of the current, the character of the banks and stream-bed, and where, in relation to some prominent object, such as a large boulder or possibly a sunken log, the trout rose; all these and other details are noted and mentally recorded, and eventually the angler, by the correlation and association of these mental pictures, comes to recognize instantly, almost to a matter of inches, the places where a rise may be expected. That an experienced fly-fisherman can tell "almost to a matter of inches" where a trout will rise may seem, to the casual reader, to be putting it rather strongly. However, inquiry of some sportsman of many seasons' experience with the fly-rod will definitely settle the matter one way or another.
While, indeed, the character of Americantrout streams is such as to definitely discourage fishing the rise purely, it cannot be too strongly emphasized that the dry fly-angler, while fishing the water, should constantly be on the lookout for a rising trout. Time and time again, while fishing a good pool or run where the rise of a trout could be noted, the writer has spotted rising fish to his very practical advantage. In this regard it might be well to note the fact that a rising and feeding trout creates very little disturbance on the surface of the stream, and does not, in accordance with the popular idea, leap above the surface; sometimes there is a slight "plop," and at times a little spray thrown, but the fish very seldom shows itself, and twenty trout could rise within the vision of an inexperienced and inattentive angler without attracting his attention. Upon glassy, still pools the subsequent widening circle of ripples tells the plain story of a rise; in a current, however, the actual rise must be seen—and often is if you are looking for it.
How to Fish the Floating Fly
Presuming that the angler has outfitted correctly and that he is a fly-caster of average ability, and further assuming that the stream he is on is at least fair dry fly water—which he will fish upstream manipulating the fly with whatever skill he may command with the purpose of imitating the action and appearance of the natural fly floating down on the surface—success, then, is predicated wholly (apart from the question of the right fly at the right time) upon the manner in which the fly is fished. Under this head—how to fish the floating fly—there are many points for consideration, of which not the least in importance is the matter of drag.
Drag occurs when the artificial fly travels at a rate different from that of the natural fly in the same position—either faster or slower or with a tendency to move across or contrary to the current. It is caused by conflicting currents which exert dissimilar forces upon fly and line.The natural dun coming down without restraint, of course, from line or leader, is affected only by the current whereon it floats; the artificial fly, attached to line and leader, several feet of which must often lie upon the surface, is subject not only to the rate and direction of the current upon which it floats, but also—unless the angler so handles his tackle as to prevent it—to the force and direction of the currents which play upon the line and leader.
Thus, when the fly is so cast that it falls upon still or slow water while the line is allowed to rest upon swift water, the artificial fly will at once drag rapidly across or over the still place in an utterly unnatural manner. The natural fly would rest quietly upon such a place, or, if there were a slight current, float slowly downstream.
The foregoing is an extreme case, cited merely with the purpose of making clear exactly what is meant by the expression "drag." Ordinarily when drag occurs the conditions are rather more subtle and complicated than in the foregoing example. Conversely to the above, when the fly falls upon swift water and the line upon slow, the natural downstream course of the fly is retarded. Again it often happens that unless the sportsman notes clearly the trend ofthe currents whereon fly and line will rest, he may cast a taut line over a place where the currents are actually moving in contrary directions, the fly may rest upon a "set-back" (a current moving upstream) while the line is carried downstream with the general trend of the stream, in which case, if the natural current is the stronger and a taut line is thrown, the fly will drag upstream in relation to the current whereon it floats, and across and generally quite contrary to the action of the natural insect in the same position.
In the matter of preventing drag I think that the one rule above all others for the sportsman to observe is this: Before making a cast—by all means before casting over a rising fish—study carefully the trend of the currents which may affect your line and fly. In other words, the best way to alleviate drag lies in the ounce of prevention which may be applied before the cast is made. It is generally possible to cast over any given place or over a rising trout from a number of different points; one of these will be found to offer the least chance of drag.
The necessity of obviating drag, so far as possible, arises from the fact that a shy trout, feeding on the natural ephemeridae, is not apt to rise to the imitation—however good—whichcomes over it in an unusual way. A feeding trout, possibly rising from a fixed vantage point wherefrom it can easily see and capture the duns floating down on the surface within striking distance, will, as a rule, rise only to the artificial fly which floats in an exactly similar manner to that of the natural flies which come within its vision.
The novice should also bear this in mind and religiously observe it: Avoid any upward or backward motion of the rod at the instant when the fly falls upon the water or immediately thereafter. In line with this it may also be said that no matter how fast the current may be, the angler should never begin to strip in the line until the fly is well started on its downstream journey. The seasoned wet fly-fisherman, upon his initial attempts at casting the dry fly, will doubtless find that he has an habitual tendency to raise the point of the rod at the moment when the forward cast has been completed and the fly has just fallen upon the surface of the stream; if this is done, the fly is at once pulled under the surface—drowned—and the habit is one which must be constantly resisted.
The same may be said of the tendency to begin stripping in the line prematurely while it isstill taut; the slightest pull upon the line at this time is at once communicated to the fly and either drags or drowns it. The proper and strictly necessary procedure, then, for the dry fly-caster is this: At the completion of the forward cast hold the rod absolutely motionless for a moment until the fly, floating down, has created more or less slack line, in accordance with the character of the water over which the cast has been made; then slowly bring up the tip of the rod or carefully strip in the line, or both, bearing in mind that to float the fly successfully there must always be more or less slack line between rod-point and fly.
As above noted, the best way to prevent drag is to first study the nature of the water over which the cast is to be made, eventually casting from the stand which seems most favorable for the cast's coming off well. If, however, it is absolutely necessary to cast so that the fly will fall upon a slower current than will the line or upon a swifter run than will affect the line, the only remedy is to cast a slack line—the fly will then float for a greater or less distance without restraint. If the fly is cast upon a still or slow place while the line rests upon swift water, drag will not set up until the slack line has passed downstream and begins to pull upon the fly.In the opposite instance, when the fly is on a swift run and the line in slow water, the cast being so made that the slack lies in the swifter current, the fly will float without drag until it has taken up the slack, when the line will retard it. How, when, and where drag will occur is not only a matter of the set and strength of the currents acting upon fly and line, but also dependent upon the point from which the angler casts in relation to the currents—obviously a matter which cannot be detailed in a manner to cover satisfactorily even a few of the situations where drag is likely to occur. The angler must practically solve each problem of this sort for himself, as it is presented in the course of the day's fishing. But in practically every case the slack-line cast, varied to suit the occasion, is the best way out of the difficulty.
The usual way in which the slack-line cast is made may be described as follows: The angler, in lengthening out his line, strips from the reel a number of feet more than will be necessary to reach the spot where he desires to place the fly; then, the line having been extended, in making the final forward cast the rod is momentarily but decidedly checked when half way, or possibly a little more, through the forward swing, with the result that the line is doubledback upon itself and the fly settles down upon the surface at the end of a considerable loop of line and leader. The motion of the rod should be stopped only for an instant, and the rod should then be carried down to its usual position at the end of the forward cast, about parallel with the water. A variation of the above method of casting a slack line, one which the writer has found very useful at times, while essentially similar to the method described, differs somewhat in that a loop of slack line, drawn from the reel by the left hand while "lengthening-out," is prematurely released, when making the last forward cast, the result being that the extra line does not "shoot" out straight, but comes down curved and slack upon the surface. To make the slack-line cast and place the fly accurately—as when casting to a rising trout—is a matter of much practice, and, it may be admitted, sometimes equally a matter of much good luck.
Although the matter of striking a rising trout will be treated in a subsequent chapter, it should perhaps be noted here that the seasoned wet fly fisherman, accustomed to fishing a fairly taut line, will soon learn to strike his trout with the loose line most often used in dry fly casting with really fewer resultant misses than is theaverage when using the sunken fly and a tight line fished downstream or partly down and across. That the average angler whose dry fly knowledge is confined wholly to a greater or lesser familiarity with the literature of the subject, seriously doubts his ability—or that of any man—to strike his fish successfully with a slack line is, I am sure, a fact; and this identical thing, possibly more than anything else, is responsible for the hesitancy with which the confirmed wet fly fisherman turns to the dry fly. In point of fact, the trick is soon picked up and the angler finds his percentage of trout well-hooked really larger than when wet fly fishing.
Two of the chief reasons for this are that the dry fly, being a very close imitation of the natural insect in appearance and (when properly fished) in action, is generally taken by the fish with far more confidence than is the wet fly; as a result fewer fish are merely foul-hooked by chance or simply pricked, and unless the fly is missed entirely—even the natural fly is missed at times—the trout is generally well-fastened. Also, inasmuch as the dry fly is fished upstream, and, as a rule, the angler is below the rising fish, the direction of the strike is toward the fish and not away from it, as is frequently the case when casting the wetfly downstream. That the tendency toward establishing a satisfactory connection is greater in the first instance should be obvious. The angler has only to learn to disregard the slack loop in his line—which, of course, must never be allowed to get absolutely beyond control—and to strike with certainly no more force than he has been accustomed to use in wet fly fishing.
To recapitulate, before going on to discuss in a more general way the matter of fishing the floating fly, it would seem that the chief points for the dry fly-caster to observe are somewhat as follows: To use a single floating fly generally selected as to size and color with regard to the natural ephemeridae common on the stream at the time; to cast the fly upstream, allowing it to come down after the manner of the natural insect, favoring the horizontal cast to insure, as far as may be, cocking the fly; to avoid immediately raising the point of the rod or stripping in line at the finish of the forward cast, but to hold the rod motionless until the fly is well started on its downstream course; finally, to avoid drag by casting a slack line.
In general, dry fly-fishing as done in America naturally divides into fishing the water and fishing the rise. The dry fly caster when fishingall the water should proceed much after the manner of the wet fly fisherman: the angler who has been accustomed to fish upstream with the wet fly need not alter his general methods in the least, save as regards floating the fly and avoiding drag. As a rule, it is best to follow or wade along the left bank, looking upstream, as this will give you an unobstructed right-handed horizontal cast.
As the dry fly man works upstream and the trout habitually lie facing the current, the careful and quiet angler seldom needs to cast a long line—provided, of course, he is casting practically straight up and actually stalking the fish from behind. But when casting diagonally up and across from either bank, in which manner it may happen that a great deal of the water may be most advantageously worked, the familiar fact that "keeping out of sight" is half the battle in trout-fishing must never be forgotten. This time-honored rule of the trout-fisherman is, it would seem, quite frequently neglected by even the most experienced anglers, its non-observance often constituting the "inexplicable" reason for failure when casting to a rising fish or when fishing a good pool.
It is always best to use the shortest line compatiblewith safety, constantly bearing in mind the well-known very acute vision of the trout. The chances of failing to hook a rising fish or of eventually losing a fish successfully fastened increase measurably with the length of line in use. Moreover, with a short line it is easier to prevent drag because there is less line upon the water. On windy days when the ordinarily smooth reaches are choppy, and always when fishing the swifter, broken runs, a thirty, even a twenty-five-foot cast is ample, if you are fishing nearly upstream and take pains to swing the rod low. On several occasions, having allowed my fly to float down very close to me in order to lift it from the water without wetting (if you lift your fly from the water when it is well away from you, the pull upon the submerged leader drags it under), I have had a rise less than five feet away.
But to successfully fish close-up, the angler's progress must be slow, careful, and quiet, and the rod must be kept down low. Overhead motion, more than anything else, alarms the fish. You have only to pass your hand over a can of fingerling trout fresh from the hatchery to verify this and to appreciate the instinctive alarm of trout at anything moving in the air above them. Avoid quick motions—infact, dry fly fishing is a game which simply cannot be successfully played in a hurry.
Not infrequently the downstream wet fly fisherman covers several miles of water in a day's fishing—I know, because I have done it innumerable times myself, and I do not say that there is not much charm, good exercise, and generally a few fish to be found in this sort of fishing. But anything of the kind is strictly incompatible with properly fishing the dry fly. The wet fly man who takes up the dry fly method should understand at the outset that the cast-once-and-walk-a-mile sort of fly-fishing is simply out of the question. If you know your stream, select a moderate reach of evidently good dry fly water, and fish it leisurely, deliberately, and searchingly.
Keep an eye out for rising fish, and observe closely the natural insects, if any, about and on the water. Cover all the water thoroughly, floating your fly not once but several times over the best places. If the water is equally good from bank to bank, let each cast be not more than two feet to the right of the preceding one, beginning under your own bank (generally the left facing upstream) and working across the stream. Then move up slowly and proceed to cover the unfished water above in a similarmanner. Pools should be fished in the same way—covered thoroughly from foot to head. The matter of the most likely places to look for trout has been discussed in a foregoing chapter and need not be reconsidered here. The suggestions to follow on casting to a rising fish will also be found to have a general application in many ways to fishing the water.
How To Fish the Floating Fly(Continued)
Casting purely to the rise is the orthodox way of dry fly fishing on the English chalk streams; that this manner of fishing the floater is of necessity subordinated to fishing all the water on American streams has been mentioned heretofore. Save in extremely favorable localities where the conditions closely approximate those of the British streams, stalking the fish is practically love's labor lost. However, large, quiet pools may be fished in this way if the angler selects the most propitious time for rising trout—in the warm season a little before sundown and for some time thereafter. Extensive, quiet reaches where the fishing is open may also at times be resorted to with the idea of casting to the rise, and some fair sport obtained.
Regarding the sporting merits of the two methods, I personally am sure that if conditions allowed I would never cast a fly except toa rising trout. The visible rise of a trout always appears in the nature of a challenge, and my inability to get away from a place where I positively know a good trout is located has frequently resulted in my return with a pretty light creel. When casting over a pool, no matter how good, while fishing all the water, lack of success eventually breeds a doubt as to the presence of a trout therein; anglers going before may have temporarily fished it out or for some other reason, the pool may be barren at the time.
But when casting over a rising trout everything is certain and well-defined. You know where the fish is located, or at least where he came up; you generally have a pretty fair idea of his size; if duly observant you can guess closely to what sort of natural fly the fish rose, everything is sure save the eventual capture of that particular trout. You are fairly certain that if the right fly is put over the fish in the right way success will follow. It is up to you.
To cast with some understanding to a rising trout, it is very necessary that the angler be somewhat familiar with the habits of the fish when feeding upon the floating insect and also be fairly conversant with the life histories of what may be termed the fishing flies. Thatrises occur when the fish are not feeding, that sometimes the trout roll up to or leap above the surface, is well known to the experienced stream fisherman. With this feature of the matter we are not here concerned; the habit has been variously accounted for by anglers and icthyologists but the motive of the fish in thus acting is still debatable. However this may be, the angler may safely conclude that any visible rise—save generally a clear leap above the surface—is a rise to the natural fly by a feeding trout until the contrary may appear from the attendant circumstances.
It is with thebona fiderise of a trout to the floating natural fly that the dry fly caster is chiefly concerned. But in this connection it should be noted that the feeding of trout upon the natural insect is by no means confined to the time of the latter's appearance strictly on the surface. Of the water-bred insects theEphemeridae, called "duns" when in the sub-imago state, occupy the place of greatest importance in the entomology of the dry fly fisherman. In a later chapter something is said of the commoner insect life of the stream; it should here be noted, however, that trout feed upon theEphemeridae, for instance, at all stages of their existence.
From the eggs deposited upon or in the water by the adult insect, or "spinner," in due time the nymphs are hatched. Upon these the trout feed at times on the stream-bed and in the weeds, nosing upon the bottom and in the aquatic vegetation in somewhat the same way as the common sucker or the German carp go about their business of drawing sustenance from the muck and weeds of the stream-bed. This habit of the trout, when followed in shallow water, results in an occasional disturbance of the surface by the tails of the fish and is called "tailing" in the nomenclature of the English dry fly fisherman. In this connection it should be noted, however, that the nymphs of theEphemeridaewhich burrow under rocks and in the stream-bed and there remain until about to assume the first winged, or dun, state are practically inaccessible to the fish, although doubtless taken at times. Tailing trout are usually feeding upon caddis and other larvae.
Subsequently the nymphs, having undergone certain physical changes while in the nymphal stage, are ready to rise to the surface, cast off the nymphal shuck or envelope, and emerge into the air in the first winged state (sub-imago) at which time, as noted, they are called duns.During the rise of the nymphs to the surface, when about to assume the dun state, they are often taken by the trout with avidity, and frequently when the nymph has neared the surface a trout taking it will visibly disturb the surface or break water—again in dry fly parlance called "bulging."
Ground-feeding or tailing trout and trout feeding in mid-water upon nymphs floating up to the surface—bulging trout—are manifestly not genuinely rising fish. To consider briefly once more the life history of theEphemeridae: when the "hatch" is on, the nymph upon reaching the surface splits open the nymphal envelope and at once takes wing as a dun—an ephemeral fly in the sub-imago or first winged state. When the duns are thus hatching the fly may float for some little distance while ridding itself of the nymphal envelope and drying its wings for flight; a rise to the fly at this time is a true rise. It would seem, however, from very close observation of the water during a good many plentiful hatches of duns, that only an occasional insect, as compared with the great numbers hatching, remains upon the water for any appreciable time while undergoing the metamorphosis from nymph to dun—the change is in most casespractically instantaneous. You may select any certain area of water, when duns are emerging constantly from every part of a pool, and watch that certain area with the utmost intentness; the chances are you will not see a single fly actually upon the water although many do, indeed, emerge from the water under observation and fly away.
In "American Insects" Professor Vernon L. Kellogg, of Leland Stanford University, writes as follows: "At the end of the immature life the nymphs rise to the surface, and after floating there a short time suddenly split open the cuticle along the back and after hardly a second's pause expand the delicate wings and fly away. Some nymphs brought into the laboratory from a watering trough at Stanford University emerged one after the other from the aquarium with amazing quickness." This from an undoubted authority, with my own experience, comparatively short but to the same end, leads me to believe that rises to the duns on the surface at the time of metamorphosis from the nymph are certainly less frequent than commonly believed and implied by dry fly writers; the rise would have to come at such an acutely psychological instantthat the chances are altogether too many against it.
In fact it would seem that when the duns are hatching many, perhaps most, rises are to the floating nymph and not to the winged insect. Autopsy shows a marked preponderance of larvae and nymphae about to change to the winged state over winged insects in the stomachs of trout taken under natural conditions. Furthermore, I might quote Mr. Halford when, in discussing bulging trout, he says: "Fish, when feeding on larvae and nymphae, at times rise quietly, without moving about from place to place. It is almost impossible under these circumstances to distinguish the apparent frombona fiderises."
All of which does not militate in the least against the theory that the artificial fly should correspond with the natural; when a decided hatch is on the trout are fully aware of the nature of the prevalent fly and if feeding upon it are quite likely to notice no other either natural or artificial. But the theory does, indeed, explain some phases of dry fly fishing which otherwise are quite inexplicable; for instance, inability to induce a rise to the properly fished winged artificial when its correspondingnatural is hatching and "apparent" rises to it are evidently common. It seems fairly certain that at such times the fish are feeding exclusively on the floating nymphs, taking them on the surface in practically the same way as the winged dun is taken. Also fish thus feeding would hardly come within the technical definition of bulging trout as that term is generally understood.
Having assumed the first winged state, scientifically the sub-imago, the duns thereafter are upon the water more or less during its continuance, sometimes blown upon the water or descending to the surface without apparent reason, and the trout rise to and feed upon them when in the mood. In a short time the dun or sub-imago undergoes another metamorphosis to the imago or "spinner"—the adult insect. The male spinners are subsequently upon the water in a spent or practically lifeless condition following the completion of the act of coition. The latter takes place over the stream to which the female spinner then descends to void her eggs. This, with some species, is done upon the surface, the fly floating downstream the while eventually to rise again and fly, generally it would seem, upstream—unless the program is incontinentlyhalted by the accurate rise of a trout. The spent spinners ("spent gnats") also serve as food for the trout—the male when it has completed the act of procreation and falls to the stream, the female when all the eggs have been voided.
Excluding, then, bottom-feeding or tailing fish, also fish feeding upon nymphs either in mid-water or, as noted, practically upon the surface, the trout feed upon theEphemeridaefirst as duns and subsequently when, as spinners, the female floats on the surface when voiding her eggs, and upon both males and females when spent. Before casting to a rising trout the angler should, as far as may be, determine the nature of the rise and the fly to which it was made. The question of the right fly having been decided, it remains only for the angler to put the fly over the fish in the right way.
When you see the rise of a presumably feeding trout, spot it carefully; that is, make very sure of the exact spot where the fish rose. Unless this is done it will be necessary to wait for another rise, which may never come, or to cast haphazardly over the approximate place, which usually results in failure. As a general rule the artificial must travel in practically thesame path as the natural fly if the trout is to rise to it
Choose your place from which to cast over the trout with two things in mind—to avoid being seen by the fish, and to lessen the liability of drag. Keep low and cast not a foot more line than necessary.
Do not cast to the exact place of the rise; drop your fly some two or three feet above it so that the fly will float down over the place where the fish rose. Moreover, if possible, avoid throwing your leader over the fish—which will not occur unless you cast actually in line with it from below.
If the fish fails to rise let your fly float well below it before lifting it from the water—for which the reason should be obvious. My own experience leads me to believe that often a trout will rise only to a fly, natural or artificial, floating over a certain small area of the surface which sometimes the fish seems to have selected for the purpose of feeding; if the artificial fly fails to cover the exact spot to which the trout is rising it may be the fish will wholly disregard it. Frequently I have cast to a rising fish and failed through difficulties of drag—and poor casting—to get the fly over the right place in the right way until possibly thefifteenth or twentieth cast, and in the meantime have seen the fish rise to the natural fly within six inches of the artificial. But when I have had the right fly and by dint of persistent casting have at last floated it over the exact spot—the "dead line" for the natural fly—the response has almost always been instantaneous and emphatic. So I would advise not letting up on a rising fish until you are sure that what may be termed the feeding zone of the trout—often very restricted—has been covered by your fly while cocked and floating in an absolutely natural way.
At the same time it is poor business to keep hammering away at a very particular fish for the simple reason that the more you cast to him the more shy and finicky he is apt to become—certainly if the casting is not done with the utmost possible skill and unobtrusiveness—and eventually you may set him down to stay. It is best to divide your attentions, fishing the water above or below, and returning from time to time to make some half-dozen casts over the reluctant one.
I believe it pays best when fishing all the water to use a fairly large fly—as dry flies go—say a fly dressed on a No. 10 long-shanked hook. I have had particularly good resultsfrom the floaters tied on these long-shanked hooks and am of the opinion that for average dry fly fishing under American conditions, when fishing all the water, they are more successful than the orthodox patterns. This goes for the larger, deeper streams and, as noted, for fishing all the water. For small stream fishing smaller flies are preferable. So far as I know dry fly patterns on No. 10 long-shanked hooks are procurable only from William Mills & Son, New York.
But when casting to a rising trout, even if you cannot discern to what fly the fish is rising it is best to discard the fancy pattern—hare's ear, Wickham, or coachman, which are generally best to use when fishing all the water for general results—and to put up an imitation of some one of the duns, olive, iron blue, whirling blue, and so on, dressed on a No. 12 or 14 hook which best approximate in size the natural ephemera ordinarily prevalent on the trout streams. The common-sense of this should not need argument, and it is best to try the small dun before possibly setting down the fish with a fancy pattern.