334 .Fly-rods and Fly-tackle. 



well-stocked arsenal. Civilization in its onward march 

 educates trout as well as men, and many an angler whose 

 catch in the wilds of Maine is only limited by his de- 

 sires, could hardly take enough in the waters first men- 

 tioned to impart a smell to his creel. 



It is not my purpose to tell when, where, and how to 

 fish these waters, since that has already been fully de- 

 scribed by no less a master than Thaddeus Norris him- 

 self, as well as many other and lesser lights of the gentle 

 art. I frankly admit I can improve in nothing on what 

 they have said. But some practical hints what to do 

 that the sport of the present may be unalloyed with in- 

 jury to the health, and pain in the future, may perhaps 

 not be amiss. 



Firstly, the clothing should be sober gray in color, that 

 if possible the suspicious game may mistake the motions 

 of the angler for the waving of some branch of a forest- 

 tree wooed by the summer wind. Upon the feet low 

 heavy shoes should be worn, studded on the soles and 

 heels with a few, and but a few, soft hobnails ; or bet- 

 ter still, those small round-headed nails sometimes seen 

 in cowhide boots. As these wear smooth they should be 

 removed and new ones substituted. 



It will be necessary to give your personal attention to 

 this, for the heart of the average shoemaker is modelled 

 on his own lapstone. In vain will be your order to 

 put in but a few, and delusive his promise to comply. 

 Either he revels in the use of hobnails, or his idea of "a 

 few" is complied with as long as any portion of the 

 sole is visible between their heads. It is not alone to 

 the cohesion of iron with stone that the benefit derived 

 from the use of hobnails in wading is due, but also to 

 the interspaces thus formed in the bottom of the sole, 



