WET AND DRY FLY-FISHING.
Various opinions prevail as to wet and dry fishing, and I think in this
matter, if we want to deceive trout, we should follow Nature as closely
as possible. On a dry, quiet day the wings of the natural fly are dry,
and when it falls on the water it takes some time before they become
saturated, and until then it floats on the surface. Imitate this by
giving your artificial fly two or three flicks backwards and forwards
before you finally throw it. You thus shake the water out of it, and it
floats. But on wet or very windy days the natural fly soon becomes wet
with rain, or from the broken surface of the water, and at such times
let the artificial lure sink a few inches beneath the surface, and if
the trout are feeding, fishing in this manner is most deadly. At night I
have generally found wet fly-fishing to answer best, even when there has
been no rain, and I attribute this to the natural flies becoming damp
with dew and thereby sinking. For dry fly-fishing floating flies are now
much used. The great objection to them appears to be the hardness of
their bodies, which is no sooner found by trout to be different to the
natural fly than they blow it out without giving time to strike. I have
found this particularly with cork-bodied May-flies, and prefer the
ordinary body in consequence.
Mr. G. Holland, of Salisbury, makes a speciality of floating flies on
eyed hooks and cobweb gut, which bear an excellent reputation; and my
friend, Mr. R. B. Lodge, has lately invented a floating fly with an
air-tight body, which floats well and does not get water-logged. If he
can make it of a soft material, not liable to be punctured by the
trout's teeth, I think there will be no doubt of its being a great
improvement.