TTIfflE IFHSIfflllKKS- (DIF 

 TIKE IFDSEE 



IT may appear crude, this fishing of the Free, but 

 in reality 'tis as smooth as the favorite waters, and 

 not seldom a deal deeper than the casual observer 

 might suspect. Because it lacks the action and 

 tinsel of the so-called higher forms of the art, it 

 rarely receives attention from those wizards of pen 

 and pencil who have made the fame of the fly. 



It is true that its bare-footed exponent might be 

 unable to deliver an address upon the why and 

 wherefore of the many curious things he does, but 

 he catches fish, which, after all, is about the limit of 

 the most scientific possibilities. The typical fisher- 

 laddie of fresh water is a peculiar small chop with a 

 wise little head crammed with all sorts of scrappy 

 information. He himself never could tell where he 

 obtained the half of it, yet he has it, and he knows 

 how to use it. 



It may be he sees a grub fall into the water, and a 

 sudden swirl suggests that some unknown fish took 

 that grub. There may or may not have been time 

 to identify the grub ; but one thing is certain, the 

 grub could not fly, hence it must have tumbled 

 from the foliage above. Our laddie, being a bare- 

 footed, agile varlet, can climb, or go where he wills, 

 and presently he discovers a grub, the like of which 



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