FLY-FISHING FOR TROUT 37 



3d. To do this in such a manner that if the fly 

 is touched, the trout shall infallibly be fastened." 



This may well be called the gospel of fly-fish- 

 ing; but how to do it ah, there's the rub. Not 

 every angler learns to obey the first rule even; 

 and when it comes to the third, who can say, 

 "This law have I kept from my youth up." 

 That delicate handling of the fly, that quick re- 

 sponse to a rising fish, neither can be taught on 

 paper; the best school for the would-be fly-fish- 

 erman, is the school of experience, actual fishing 

 on a trout stream. I have cast by the hour upon 

 the back lawn, to the great amusement of pass- 

 ersby and the abject terror of the house dog, but 

 I am ready to assert that I have derived more 

 real benefit by following an expert handler of 

 flies in actual fishing. No doubt much can be 

 gained by dry-land practise after one knows how 

 to handle the lures, but before well, to my mind 

 it is something like learning to swim in the draw- 

 ing-room. When Horace Greeley was asked 

 how the Government was to set about resuming 

 specie payment, he tersely replied, "The way to 

 resume is to resume," Do not make any mis- 

 take about the matter, the way to learn to handle 

 fuzzy- wuzzy lures is just to handle them. Per- 

 haps some day you will find yourself without 



