The Fishing of Waters with the Wet Fly 23 



from the systems usually in vogue amongst 

 wet-fly fishers when fishing the parent 

 rivers. The same general principles govern 

 each system or method ; which fact, I trust, 

 eventually to make tolerably clear as I 

 proceed with the subject. I fear that I 

 must occasionally mention what is properly 

 named "a water" in Scotland by some 

 other title, for it would never do to land 

 myself in some such absurd sentence as 

 " The water in such 'a water' as this 

 is," etc. In such a case I must speak 

 of a " river," or " small river." " Kivulet " 

 I dislike intensely. 



W. C. Stewart, the writer of that very 

 excellent work " The Practical Angler," 

 the first edition of which was issued in 

 1857, was one of the most famous wet-fly 

 fishermen Scotland ever produced. 



I must qualify this statement. It was 

 as a fisher of medium sized streams; in fact, 

 of " waters " that he really won his fame ; 

 and any one with a full knowledge of his 

 subject, reading Stewart's excellent work, 

 must notice that his teachings are chiefly 

 applicable to the fishing of his beloved 

 " waters." 



As a matter of fact, Stewart was not 

 nearly such a successful fly-fisher in any 



