176 FISHING IN AMERICAN WATERS. 



a stained gut casting-line tapering from the reel-line to the 

 stretcher, a well-selected cast of flies, with drops artistically 

 fastened to the casting-line, and of proper length, a good 

 landing-net and light basket, and I am ready for the fray and 

 to angle all day ; for I never yet experienced a day long- 

 enough while fishing. 



Oh ! the varied and mixed emotions of the fly-fisher. How 

 often he is tantalized by false rises, which suddenly inflate 

 him with hope, to collapse as soon by disappointment. Some- 

 times he misses a well-intended rise of so bold an effort as to 

 render the fish too much alarmed by the sights and sense of 

 the upper air to trust a repetition. Anon he hooks a fine 

 trout, and in playing it the hook parts from the jaw of the 

 fish, leaving to conjecture whether it was really a disgorge 

 or a too tender hold. Thus he continues whipping the water, 

 exercised by various emotions, when a large feeding trout 

 springs above the water, revealing all his beauties of color 

 and proportions, and, taking the fly, he darts away with the 

 power and celerity which prove that he is going to try the 

 strength of the tackle. What interesting moments to the 

 angler ! The numerous runs of the fish, his wiles and strat- 

 egy to escape, are all tried in vain, and he is finally helped 

 out of the wet by means of the landing-net. 



The man or boy who has never taken a trout has not 

 really seen one with angler's eyes. To the angler, a large, 

 healthy trout in full season, just taken, when fish are scarce 

 and bite shy, is the prettiest object in the whole world of 

 beauty. 



NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL TROUT FLIES. 



Letter A, the artificial, and B, the natural dun-cut fly (phry- 

 ganea), is a good lure for the month of May. Body of 

 brown bear's hair, mixed with blue and yellow worsted, 

 whipped with green and yellow ; brown feather wings, and 

 squirrel's-tail hair for antennae. 



Letter C, the artificial, and D, the natural of the green-tail fly 



