HOW TO USE NATURE LURES 143 



tion in stating my method to be a new one and 

 a decided advance on the existing methods now 

 in vogue in lure fishing. The difficulties to over- 

 come have not by any means been slight, and 

 that is why five years have been spent in what 

 has been accomplished, the winters in study and 

 the summers in practice, yet I readily concede 

 there is still much to improve in attaining per- 

 fection. My definition of perfection in angling 

 is: to practise a method that is fair to the fish, 

 to give it some little chance to display its gamy 

 qualities; that is sane for the angler, where he 

 can get the most and the highest form of sport 

 with the least cruelty; that is safe to get the de- 

 sired result at any time or place he so chooses. 

 This fair, sane, safe policy naturally includes a 

 certain amount of intelligent study of all aspects 

 of nature, and the creatures that abide on land, in 

 the air, or in the water. This study, undertaken in a 

 proper spirit, will in most cases prove more en- 

 gaging than the actual fishing; at least, I have 

 found it so the more I learn of it. 

 All experts and thoughtful anglers both here 

 and in England consider dry-fly fishing the highest 

 art of angling yet practised. Why do they con- 

 sider it so? Their answer is: "Because you use 



