PRELIMINARY. 



FISHERMEN are generally methodical, and it is in 

 deference to the requisitions of method that I "begin 

 at the beginning," and offer a very few preliminary 

 hints on the subjects of dress, rods, tackle, &c. 

 There is nothing particularly new or important or 

 interesting in what I offer ; but, as the result of 

 some considerable experience and observation, it 

 may be found useful to some of my readers. The 

 practised fisherman will, of course, skip the chapter, 

 and the unpractised one will do so or not as he 

 thinks proper. I have advisedly made my observa- 

 tions as brief as possible. I need hardly say that 

 they might have been spun out to any conceivable 

 extent, and that without any especial strain on 

 either my inventive powers or my memory. 



Dress. The fisherman's dress is by no means 

 an unimportant matter. Bright colours or white 

 must be avoided. Let your person be arrayed 

 " intcgumentis nigris vel obfuscis" as the Oxford 



