2l6 AMERICAN GAME FISHES. 



In those days we used hickory rods — poles we called them; 

 and one merit at least they had — they never broke. The 

 line or hook might fail at sorest need, but for the pole, you 

 could surge and strain your best, and never fear consequences. 

 It was with one of these machines, wire-ringed and copper- 

 ferruled, that I first cast a fly. The rod weighed several 

 pounds, and casting was no boy's play; so that I soon wearied 

 of the fruitless labor, and seating myself upon a stone, 

 allowed the fly — I remember that it was small and red — to 

 drift upon the surface of the current while I sought in my 

 pocket for my luncheon. As I lazily watched the fly de- 

 scending into a foamy pool just below my seat, there was a 

 gleam and a mighty surge. I grasped the rod — too late, the 

 fish had detected the imposition and vanished. No further 

 thought of luncheon. I fished that pool for hours, but no 

 rise rewarded my efforts. Next morning I was again upon 

 the spot, having meanwhile obtained another fly — a black 

 hackle. This I added to my cast, and very carefully dropped 

 it upon the surface of the brook. There was no rise, but as 

 I was retrieving the line, and before I knew what had hap- 

 pened, a large Trout was fast to the hook. How I managed 

 to save him I can hardly say, but save him I did, and ran 

 exultant home. I caught no Trout as large as this in many 

 after years. 



When I was young, an old friend and experienced fly-fisher 

 once told me that the talk about the importance of having 

 the flies fall like thistledown upon the water was all moon- 

 shine. Said he: "If you get the fly on the water at all, and 

 the Trout wants it, he'll take it." 



I cannot tell among what sort of Trout my friend had 

 gained this experience; but in my own I find that the more 

 lightly my flies descend upon the surface of the stream, the 

 more likelihood is there of a rise. 



There is no such mighty mystery in fly-fishing, more than 

 in rifle-shooting; and while superior skill in cither is confined 



