Preface. ix 



was entirely dependent on the success of my rod, 

 I have been wont to regard the net result of the 

 day's exertion with a pardonable amount of interest, 

 if not of anxiety ; and it may therefore be safely 

 assumed that I would adopt that method which 

 promised the greatest results. In more recent 

 years other " brothers of the angle " in the south 

 of Scotland have admitted the claims of the loop- 

 rod, and attested its superiority ; but I am inclined 

 to believe that to the large majority of fishers in 

 these days it will prove at least novel. And if 

 neither its novelty nor its success should be alone 

 sufficient to recommend it to the true Waltonian 

 who would see the artist in the sportsman, I can 

 confidently add that the angler who gives the loop- 

 rod a fair trial, and attains to even a moderate 

 degree of skill in its use, will be in little danger 

 of regarding fly-fishing as being merely or primarily 

 an ingenious method of filling a creel, but will be 

 led to admit that it may rise to the dignity of an 

 art whose pursuit is its own chief charm. 



One word more. This little work was under- 

 taken at the solicitation of an old friend, himself 

 a skilful and enthusiastic angler; and to him my 

 grateful acknowledgments are due for his kind 



