62 ARTIFICIAL FLY-FISHING. 



This, however, is not an art that can be learned 

 in a day, or so easily as some seem to imagine. 

 A beginner becomes enamoured of fly-fishing.- For 

 six weeks he grinds at Walton and all the other 

 authorities upon the subject, and having equipped 

 himself with all the paraphernalia for waging a 

 war of extermination upon the finny tribe, he rolls 

 his hat round' with cast after cast of flies, which 

 bear a far greater resemblance to humble bees than 

 river insects; and thus accoutred, sets out to put 

 his acquired information in practice. Arrived at 

 the river-side he finds his mistake : if the water 

 be swollen, and of the dark porter colour so cele- 

 brated among anglers, he may be rewarded with 

 the capture of a few trout ; but if it be clear, he 

 plies his lure to the terror and alarm of almost 

 every trout in the water, and returns, if not with 

 an empty basket, at least with a very light one, 

 to confirm the prevailing opinion that it is of no 

 use fishing when the water is clear. If this opinion 

 were correct, it would limit the time when angling 

 could be successfully practised to a few weeks in 

 the season, and sometimes to a few days ; but 

 fortunately for the angler it is not correct, being 

 merely the natural result of a mode of angling 

 which ignores the habits and instincts of the trout. 

 Trout are just as much inclined to feed when 

 the waters are clear as when they are coloured. 

 In a clear water they may be seen rising in im- 

 mense numbers at the natural insect, showing 



