Vlll PREFATORY. 



been expatiated upon till it has become a worn-out leaf in 

 books. I forbear to delegate myself instructor in a branch of 

 study which can be thoroughly mastered only by diligent and 

 intelligent practice. As for the " beauties of nature " which 

 environ the haunts of the angler and so infallibly inspire the 

 author's pen, are they not painted on the clouds, written on 

 the leaves, and limned in rainbow tints upon the dashing 

 streams ? It is evident that any effort of mine in this direc- 

 tion, however ambitious, has been anticipated. Neither will I 

 attempt to rival the retailers of big fish stories. The field is 

 already fallow. My province is simply to write an Angler's 

 Guide without embellishment ; to tell where fish are to be 

 caught, and when, and how ; to show the sportsman the 

 shortest routes to pleasure, the best means of conveyance, the 

 .expense thereof, and the secrets of the commissariat. 



With a few notable exceptions, our sporting literature is 

 composed of technical scientific treatises on fish and fish- 

 hooks, which may possibly interest a club of veteran anglers, 

 but which only bore and mystify the general reader ; or else 

 the books are mere recitals of personal exploits, supplemented 

 by sentimental apostrophes to nature, and rounded off with 

 high-flown periods. What does it matter to the neophyte, 

 or what does the casual reader care, whether an artificial fly 

 is whipped with the real yellow mohair, or with the rayed 

 feathers of the mallard dyed yellow ? What do they know 

 of the mechanism of rods and reels ? How can we stir 

 enthusiasm in hearth-rug knights, or instil into their compo- 

 sition a love for field sports by confusing their minds with ich- 

 thyological abstractions ? Why daze the novice by turning 

 all at once upon his unaccustomed eyes the full effulgence 

 of the Sportsman's Paradise ? A service more meritorious 

 and long needed, would be to furnish some plain, wholesome 

 fare of wise instruction, comprehensible to common minds ; 

 some healthy and vigorous photographs of real life, which 

 will assert their truthfulness by instantly reviving kindred 

 experiences of days gone by ; with a judicious touch of light 

 and shade in the coloring that shall make the profession and 



