PREFACE. 



|N introducing my Manual to the angling world, my 

 principal object is to give anglers a lesson on Fly 

 Dressing, and Setting on the Wings in my own 

 peculiar style. It is also my intention to give 

 my readers the experience of many years devoted to the 

 science of " Fly Fishing." 



I have for some time felt a desire to introduce my 

 practical experience, together with that of my late 

 father, who had seventy years' practice on the rivers Wye, 

 Derwent, Lathkill, and Dove, Derbyshire; and who, 

 as well as myself, have fished Ireland, Scotland, and 

 Wales, North and South. Most of our practice, 

 however, lay in Derbyshire. 



When I meet with an angler who has gained his 

 knowledge of the rod, and can make a basket on these 

 Derbyshire streams, I at once conclude he can kill fish 

 on any river in the world ; for I have proved beyond 

 doubt that these waters test the eye as to size and colour, 

 in dressing the artificial fly, far more than other streams. 



