148 Dry-Fly Fishing. 



dry-fly purist, I have discarded all these things. 

 Nevertheless, my sympathies are with all anglers 

 who fish fairly, nor, having followed their methods 

 myself, may I presume to find fault. At the same 

 time, I must say I am glad to be free of all bait 

 fishing, and that no longer is required the squirming 

 worm writhing upon my hook, or living insect, or 

 fish live bait. The dry-fly practice reduces the 

 cruelty of the sport to a minimum, and, as the fish 

 are killed as soon as landed, they do not die a linger- 

 ing death, as most others do, especially those hooked 

 and remaining for hours on night -lines, which we 

 daily eat without compunction. And yet how often 

 an angler is said to be cruel, notably by the fair sex. 

 All through April the weather was too unsettled 

 to offer any encouragement for me to don the creel 

 and take the fly-rod out with a view to fishing, for 

 there were few, if any, duns upon the water, nor, 

 although nearly every day I strolled beside the 

 Itchen for a mile above Winchester, did I see a 

 dozen trout rising during the time. But on May 

 1st (once the most joyous day in merrie England, 

 and in my own experiences of it, long ago) I killed 

 my first trout, weighing lib. 9oz., and that was my 

 only chance that day. I had, therefore, plenty of 

 time to recall to mind the former festivities of May 

 Day, when it w r as customary for chimney sweeps, 

 cleanly for the nonce and arrayed in parti-coloured 



