"A gray-haired bait-fisher is very rare, while the passion for 

 fly-casting, whether for trout or salmon, grows by what it feeds 

 upon, and continues a source of the highest pleasure even after 

 the grasshopper becomes a burden." — George Daivson. 



"It is not the number of fish he captures that makes the angler 

 contented, for the true angler can enjoy the mere casting of the 

 fly if he has only an occasional fish to reward his efforts." — 

 * ' Random Casts. " 



" The great charm of fly-fishing for trout is derived from the 

 fact that you then see the movements of your fish, and if you are 

 not an expert hand, the chances are that you will capture but one 

 out of the hundred that may rise to your hook. You can seldom 

 save a trout unless you strike the very instant that he leaps. The 

 swiftness with which a trout can dart from his hiding-place after 

 a fly is truly astonishing ; and we never see one perform this 

 operation without feeling an indescribable thrill quivering through 

 our frame."— Charles Lanman. 



" There is nothing grovelling in fly-fishing — nothing gross or 

 demoralizing. " — Charles HallocTc. 



"Angling is a maist innocent, poetical, moral and religious 

 amusement. Gin I saw a fisher gruppin creelfu' after creelfu' o' 

 trouts, and then flingin' them a' awa among the heather and the 

 brackens on his way hame, I micht begin to suspec that the 

 idiot was by nature rather a savage. But as for me, I send 

 presents to my freens, and devour dizzens on dizzens every week 

 in the family— maistly dune in the pan, wi' plenty o' fresh butter 

 and roun' meal— sae that prevents the possibility o' cruelty in 

 my fishin', and in the fishin' o' a' reasonable creatures."— James 

 Hogg. 



