FLY-FISHING FOR TROUT 101 



cunning required to delude such a fish than is thought of in the 

 landing of the noblest twenty-pound salmon that ever sailed up 

 Tweed or Tay. A good trout-fisher will easily become an 

 expert at salmon-fishing, but a very respectable practitioner 

 with the salmon rod will often have all his schooling to do 

 afresh, should he descend to trout-fishing, before he can take 

 rank as a master of the art. 



As fly-fishing is at once the most popular and most sports- 

 manlike method of fishing for trout, I will take that branch 

 first. It is the custom in many rivers, particularly in the more 

 southern counties, as in Devonshire, for example, to com- 

 mence fly-fishing for trout as early as the months of February 

 and March. No doubt the trout being hungry feed better then, 

 but they can hardly be said to be in such condition as the angler 

 loves to see. In Devon, the trout do not, to my thinking, get 

 into anything like good fettle until they have had a gorge upon 

 that excellent and valuable insect the March brown. In many 

 rivers the trout are hardly in fair condition in May, and often 

 not until June, when they have fed upon the May fly. After this 

 they are in the primest order, and require all the angler's 

 skill to take them ; but they will then repay him for his 

 trouble. 



To commence at the beginning, I will suppose that the 

 angler is a novice, and intends to try his hand with a single- 

 handed rod. This should not be less than eleven, nor more than 

 thirteen feet in length ; between these extremes he may suit his 

 requirements and strength.* I say strength, because the angler 

 should never over-burden himself : an ounce or two too much 

 in a rod is apparently no great matter, but when the same set 

 of muscles have to lift that ounce some two feet from five 

 hundred to a thousand times in the day, it will be seen that it 

 must tell heavily. 



The angler will, perhaps, be surprised to hear how little 

 difference there is usually in the weight of single-handed trout 

 rods. Here are the dimensions and weights of four, by four 

 different makers, which I selected at random from my stock : 



Gould. A hollow cane rod, with ash butt, 12 ft. 8 in. long ; 

 weight, 13 oz. 12 dr. 



Cheek. A common hickory rod, of the usual make, rather 



* Present day fly-fishers will rub their eyes on reading this. Nine feet is 

 the maximum length of a modern single-handed fly rod, the materials of 

 which it is made, whether green-heart or split cane, being alike heavier and 

 more powerful than those specified by Francis. ED. 



