MY FIRST TROUT. 3 



slog away until he has made a century or acquired the 

 science and skill of Dr. W. G. Grace. 



How many fishermen can say that they owe nothing 

 to the advice or assistance of others in their earliest 

 attempts at handling the rod ? I myself caught a trout 

 when four years of age, but my dear old dad was 

 there all the time ; and though I had fished for over 

 thirty-six years after in most parts of the world, I never 

 knew the real science of casting until 1896, when Mr. John 

 Enright, of Castle Connell fame, took me in hand. 



With every respect, then, for the writer, I am fully 

 persuaded that the one thing a novice can and should do 

 before he goes down to " scare the trout " is to learn the 

 art of casting a fly from personal tuition if possible, but 

 if that is not possible, then perhaps from some such attempt 

 as mine. When a beginner is able to cast his fly lightly 

 and gently in any required direction, he can then seek 

 his trout stream, and be in a position to fish with ever- 

 increasing delight and confidence. With the advice and 

 help of an experienced lover of the art, his progress 

 should be rapid, he would have nothing to unlearn, and 

 may, indeed, as far as science in actual fly casting is 

 concerned, step down to the water-side a better man 

 than the one from whom he, himself, has in other respects 

 so very much to learn. 



Besides these advantages, the beginner should consider 

 the saving in time and material which he will effect by first 



B 2 



