PREFATORY. 



I HAVE been frequently requested to collate my various 

 sketches of travel and adventure which have appeared 

 from time to time in Harper's Magazine, and publish them in 

 book form for the information of sportsmen. But, as these 

 cover a period of seventeen years, and much of the material 

 has passed out of date, I have thought it better to issue a 

 work more comprehensive, to serve as a sort of Keference 

 Book for Anglers and Tourists. 



This volume presents in a concise form all the informa- 

 tion necessary to enable gentlemen to visit successfully every 

 accessible salmon and trout region of America ; though of 

 course it has not attempted to specify each neighborhood 

 locality. Observation is confined exclusively to the Salmo 

 family, because I regard them as the only fresh-water fish, 

 excepting the black bass, worthy the name of game-fish the 

 earnest pursuit whereof leads where much substantial infor- 

 mation can be gathered, with benefit to mind and body. 



Since the ancient days of Pliny and Ansonius, the "trout 

 in speckled pride " has been the undying theme of pastoral 

 poets and sentimental anglers ; and a fulsome rhapsody here 

 would only pale before the light of their diviner fires. Ped- 

 ants in piscatory lore have so often classified the Salmo 

 family, and described their characteristics and minutest 

 points of difference, that I assume the scientific world is sat- 

 isfied that nothing remains to be said on that head ; hence I 

 offer no supplementary essay. Fly-fishing as a fine art has 



