THE IMPLKMENTS OF SALMON FISHING. 243 



clothes -basket ; and such is the weight of the fish, tliat, if you expect 

 to be successful, an attendant is indispensable. 



. With these instruments, then, a well-filled fly-book in his pouch, 

 and perhaps a spare gut foot-length round his hat, the fisherman may 

 deem his outfit perfect. 



A suit of plain dark clothes, a pair of stout nailed shoes, and heavy 

 loose trowsers of the coarse Scottish plaid worn by the shepherd.*, is 

 the best attire for the sportsman. India-rubber boots are an abomi- 

 nation, unwholesomely confining the perspiration, and excessively 

 uncomfortable from the intense heat which they create ; besides, an 

 angler is hardly the sort of person to care much about wet feet or a 

 soaked jacket. 



Having now equipped and rigged him, we will conduct him to the 

 marge of limpid lake or rapid torrent, and see how best his scaly 

 prey he may ensnare. 



In order to become a fly-fisher, I think that something of an 

 especial genius is necessary — I mean a fly-fisher in the highest sense 

 of the word, and regarded in the same light as the sportsman whom 

 we can deservedly term a crack-shot. 



Still, although something of a natural and inherent aptitude is 

 necessary, practice, experience, and a love of the art, go so far that 

 no one who really desires to attain eminence in this skill need despair, 

 for perhaps no one very keenly desires it who has not that aptitude, 

 though perhaps latent, and even of himself unsuspected. 



To taach a man, as I have said before, by writing or even by oral 

 instruction, unless coupled with active practice and example, how to 

 make a fly, how to cast a fly, how to hook a fish, or how, when hooked, 

 to kill him, is to my apprehension impossible. Yet without some 

 instructions on this subject, a work on Fishing would justly be deemed 

 imperfect, and perhaps even impertinent. 



After the first slight skill is attained which enables a fi,-<herman to 

 ca.st a fly at all without whipping it ofi" the hook-length, the great 

 points to be acquired are, precision in casting, and neatness in deliver- 

 ing the fly. 



In Salmon fishing with the double-handed rod, all these things are 

 somewhat more difficult than with the light twelve-foot Trout-rod, and 

 more practice is rerjuisite before perfection can be gained ; yet the 



