TROUT FLY-FISHING IN AMERICA 



Does not this statement, if it means anything, mean 

 that, irrespective of the method, wet or dry, no angler 

 who uses such a rod as Dr. Henshall describes can ever 

 become an accomplished fly fisherman? 



It may be possible that Mr. La Branche has some spe- 

 cial or peculiar meaning for the word "accomplished," 

 but I understand the meaning of the word to be, "hav- 

 ing completed, effected, or finished some given thing," 

 and that an accomplished angler or fly fisherman is one 

 who has carried the art of fly-fishing with light tackle and 

 the artificial fly to the desired end, that of catching game 

 fish. 



Certainly an angler who cannot catch fish is not an 

 accomplished fly fisherman, and one who can catch them 

 with any kind of rod must be called accomplished, and 

 the poorer the rod used the greater must be the accom- 

 lishment. 



A bald statement is one thing, a fact quite another, 

 and in this instance the fact is, that there are many accom- 

 plished fly fishermen all over the world who agree with 

 Dr. Henshall about the function of the fly-rod as well as 

 many expert fly-rod makers. 



Second — That the reader is told "in plain words" that the 

 function of a rod is in the power "it gives the angler to kill fish." 



In all fairness and truthfulness I ask where is there 

 anything in what Dr. Henshall has said about a fly-rod 

 that can be distorted into meaning, or even implying, what 

 Mr. La Branche so boldly asserts? 



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