EXPERIENCES WITH "BOB' 68 



Food, strength, growth, temperature of water, 

 habitat; all had been changing. The trees, the 

 bushes, the long grass and reeds at the edges of, and 

 in, the river, were all daily producing more and 

 more fly-food under the warm and life-giving sun- 

 shine ; all manner and kind of winged and creeping 

 things, that would shortly fill the earth, and be sent 

 out over the waters, each in its appointed time. 



Under the water, too, the great work of creation 

 of new birth and changing forms was stirring the 

 myriads of wriggling things beneath the stones. 

 The minnows were returning, from their winter 

 homes, down the field-runners and smaller brooks, 

 to the gre^at, pure waters of the Eden, where they 

 could carry out nature's design and " be fruitful 

 and multiply, and fill the seas." 



Experience gained by close association with 

 Nature's ways, and by assiduous practice in the art 

 of fishing, began to tell its tale, and our evening 

 talks developed into an exchange of mutual, daily 

 experiences, all of which lifted me, at the same time, 

 on to a higher plane of association with " Bob." 



We discussed together the varying sizes and 

 characters of flies; the difference between fishing 

 with hair and gut, and such threadbare theories as 

 " fine and far off." We also considered the reasons 

 which had, in process of time, led successful fishers 



