PREFACE. Vll 



Some improvements have been made 

 since his time in rods, hooks, and floating 

 flies, but to this day it is believed that 

 some of the best known fly-makers " tie 

 from Ronalds." 



The solid claims of the book rest on 

 its being the work of a clever, observant, 

 and successfid fisherman, who wrote of 

 what he knew, and gave his reader only 

 the results of carefal observation of nature 

 and long personal experience. 



There is one matter on which the 

 present editor ventures to submit his own 

 views. There is no doubt that the high 

 level of scientific accuracy to which dry 

 fly fishing has been brought of late years 

 has tended to throw the older way of 

 fishino^ " wet " somewhat into the shade, 

 and has even led to suggestions that 

 science is the monopoly of him who fishes 

 " dry." There can be no greater mistake, 

 as any one who tries his luck in the clear, 

 well fished, and rapid streams of Derby- 

 shire, for instance, will soon discover. 



