EARLY EXPERIENCES 13 



Esopus, in New York; the Brodhead and Sho- 

 hola, in Pennsylvania; the Saco and its tribu- 

 taries, in New Hampshire, and others of similar 

 character all brawling, impetuous, tumbling 

 streams and it seemed to me that by continu- 

 ing to use the dry fly on them I was profaning 

 the creed of authority and inviting the wrath 

 of his gods upon my head. Since then, how- 

 ever, I have continued the use of the dry fly 

 on all of these streams, and a number of years 

 ago abandoned the use of the wet fly for all 

 time. 



Since I began casting the fly over the streams 

 of the region I have mentioned their character 

 has greatly changed in many particulars, and 

 conditions are not the same as they were twenty 

 years ago. The natural streams themselves 

 have changed; the condition of the water flow- 

 ing in them has changed; the sorts of fish in- 

 habiting the waters have changed; and the 

 methods of taking the fish have changed, or 

 should change; and it is to show why this last 

 is true that the following pages are written. 



The changes that have taken place in the 

 character of our mountain streams may be at- 

 tributed to many causes, chief of which, how- 

 ever, is the destruction of the timber which at 



