Getting Out tJte Fly Books 



said a lady one day, " that you would teach 

 my husband to use the fly, for I observe 

 that when you desire to go a-fishing, you 

 go ; but he raises the whole village for four 

 days to collect his baits." Besides, it is a 

 gratification to avoid giving pain, even if 

 slight, to living bait. A still greater prac- 

 tical advantage is that the fly does not mor- 

 tally wound any fish, and such as (by reason 

 of size or for any other cause) are not 

 wanted for the basket may be returned to 

 the water unharmed. Unharmed? Prob- 

 ably entirely so. In bait-fishing many an 

 undesired fish is basketed because wounds 

 of its gills or gullet make its survival im- 

 probable if it were returned to the water. 

 But a fly is not swallowed unless a bait has 

 been added to it. It goes no farther than 

 the mouth, and by trout at least is 

 instantly recognized as a deception ; and if 

 it has not been fastened at the moment of 

 seizure, is immediately rejected. That the 

 presence of a hook in the mouth of preda- 

 tory fish causes little, if any pain, becomes 

 more probable the more their behavior is 

 watched. Their mouths being their only 

 prehensile apparatus, we should expect 

 these parts to be but slightly sensitive to 

 pain ; and such seems, from observation, 

 to be really the case. Such fish often seize 



