VI PREFACE. 



more difficult to deceive trout in clear water 

 than in coloured, the method of angling which 

 succeeds best in the one case will also succeed 

 best in the other. 



For more than fifteen years we have pursued 

 angling with the greatest assiduity ; and during 

 that period have obtained information from a 

 number of excellent amateur anglers (among 

 whom we may mention the Secretary of the 

 late St. Eonan's Angling Club), to all of whom 

 we take this opportunity of expressing our 

 thanks. We have also fished with, and watched 

 while fishing, almost all the best professional 

 anglers of the day, including the celebrated 

 James Baillie, considered by all who knew him 

 the ablest fly-fisher in Scotland, and from whom 

 we have received some valuable information 

 upon that branch of the art; and it must be 

 admitted that there are few anglers like those 

 whose ingenuity and perseverance are stimulated 

 by necessity. The information received from 

 these we have thoroughly tested before admit- 

 ting it into the following pages, and we may 

 safely say that w 7 e have gained more from half- 

 an-hour's conversation with such, than from all 

 the books we ever read upon the subject, and 



