The Fishing of Waters with the Wet Fly 3 1 



line at first, and let your effort always be to 

 throw a " clean line," however short. Never 

 be tempted to throw a long line, till you can 

 throw a short one, easily and perfectly. 



My next piece of advice is : do not try 

 to advance too rapidly. Your aim should 

 be to perfect yourself in any one stage, 

 before you begin to enter upon another. 

 If I can impress this upon the mind of a 

 beginner, he will be benefited greatly in the 

 long run. The Italians have a wonderful 

 proverb, the English of which I prefer to 

 give, especially as I don't know another 

 word of Italian, " Hasten slowly " * (Festina 

 lente). This advice, to any one commencing 

 fly-fishing in earnest, is golden. Begin 

 with a casting-line (or collar) of fine whole 

 gut, and learn to throw a clean, straight 

 line. When you have satisfied yourself 

 that you have mastered this, the first 

 step; then, and not till then, try to use 

 drawn-gut, beginning with the heavier 

 grades, and gradually, but slowly, getting 

 into the finer sizes. Things are often proved 

 by their opposites. Eeverse this order, and 

 what happens ? The beginner, finding that 



* " Wisely and slow ; they stumble that run fast." 



Borneo and Juliet, Act ii. Scene 7. 



