26 FLY FISHING 



but not by itself enough. A habit of attention 

 and observation is at least equally important, and 

 this observation must have a wide range. It 

 must take notice of the ways of fish at all times, 

 especially when feeding and when hooked; of 

 different conditions of weather and water, and of 

 the effect of these, till by degrees the angler will 

 have at his disposal a little individual store, 

 peculiarly his own, of suggestions, hints and 

 probabilities. Things that he watches, or sees 

 happen season by season, come to have meanings, 

 and are signs which suggest expedients as the 

 result of former experience. The attention of 

 an angler must not be a barren but a fertile 

 attention. His observation should add to his 

 knowledge in a manner which has a direct bear- 

 ing on his sport. He should make guesses 

 founded upon something which he has noticed, 

 and be ever on the watch for some further 

 indications to turn the guess into a conclusion. 



We have now arrived at two main qualities 

 the first being a certain physical cleverness, and 

 the second an attentive and suggestive mind. But 

 there is a third which seems to me important 

 It is self-control ; for if an angler is really 



