PREFACE 



To expound a theory into willing ears upon a 

 trout stream is one thing; to put those same 

 ideas into writing so that they may be intel- 

 ligently conveyed to one who reads them is 

 quite a different thing. Of this I am convinced. 

 However this may be, my readiness to do the 

 one induced in some of my angling friends the 

 belief that I could do the other. They insisted 

 that I try and this book is the result. My ex- 

 perience in preparing these pages has filled me 

 with the profoundest respect for those persons 

 who may be truthfully characterised as authors. 

 I began the work with a good deal of timidity, 

 and, as it now appears to me, considerable 

 temerity. After completing the task to the best 

 of my ability I submitted the manuscript to 

 some of my credulous friends. Strange to say, 

 after reading it, even then they insisted that I 

 publish it. By this decision it seems to me they 

 proved two things their friendship for me and 

 their absolute unfitness to be literary critics. 



V 



M838921 



