THE VALUE OF OBSERVATION 25 



be asking much, indeed, of him who thinks of 

 fly fishing only as a pastime. But to him who 

 realises that it is a sport a sport that is also 

 an art there is no incident, complex or simple, 

 that is unworthy of his attention and consider- 

 ation. No sport affords a greater field for ob- 

 servation and study than fly fishing, and it is 

 the close attention paid to the minor happenings 

 upon the stream that marks the finished angler. 

 The careless angler frequently overlooks in- 

 cidents, or looks upon them as merely trivial, 

 from which he might learn much if he would but 

 realise their meaning at the time. 



Of greatest importance to the dry fly angler 

 is that mastery of the rod and line that enables 

 him to place his fly lightly and accurately upon 

 the water. I venture to assert that one who 

 has had the advantage of expert instruction in 

 handling a rod, and is thereby qualified to de- 

 liver a fly properly, will raise more trout upon his 

 first attempt at fishing a stream than another 

 who, though he knows thoroughly the haunts 

 and habits of the fish, casts indifferently. The 

 contrast between the instructed novice and the 

 uninstructed veteran would be particularly no- 

 ticeable were they to cast together over the 

 same water in which fish were rising freely. 



