43 



shift their places, moving down stream from time to time, and 

 leaving their old habitats to the smaller fry ; just as generation 

 after generation of men pass away, and yield their places to 

 posterity. They have always their favorite holes and haunts. 

 Catch them all out of this hole to-day and others will sup- 

 ply their places to-morrow. Colder water in this spot, or a 

 mineral spring of agreeable properties in that, may decide 

 their preferences; or the chemicals held in solution may 

 have the opposite effect, and repel fish from holes which to the 

 angler seem unexceptionable. 



There is little to be said of fish and fishing that has not been 

 repeatedly told in books. It is vain to attempt a new varia- 

 tion upon the old tune. Still, a few hints gathered from 

 long experience may assist in the selection of a proper outfit 

 for a holiday cruise. 



Setting aside all the minutiae of flies, fly-books, creels and 

 tackle, I cannot refrain from expressing an opinion as to 

 what a rod should be a perfect rod which is. the first 

 requisite and great desideratum of the accomplished angler. 

 So many improvements have been made of late years in the 

 construction of rods that old stand-bys are laid on the shelf, 

 while rod-makers who long stood pre-eminent, are compelled 

 to yield a modicum of their prestige. I can reverence the 

 old sportsman who still swears by his Martin Kelly or Chev- 

 alier, ' or the superb implement of Bowness & Bowness, of 

 London. Doubtless they are the best rods made in Great 

 Britain. Possibly they are superior to those made in this 

 country. Dingey Scribner, of St. John, New Brunswick, 

 makes a greenheart rod which is held in high repute by Cana- 

 dians. The Michell Conroy and Terhune rods, manufac- 

 tured in New York, are famous, and have long been deserv- 

 edly esteemed. Robert Welch used to make an excellent 

 rod. Probably the best Conroy is as perfect an implement as 

 can be constructed by the old-time materials of ash and 

 lance-wood. But of late years new materials have come into 

 use. The mahoe-wood or "blue mahogany " of Cuba, has 



