418 Fly -rods and Fly -tackle. 



means follows, because you were unsuccessful, that the 

 pool was untenanted ; if you plunge through it you may 

 so alarm the fish that they will refuse to rise for hours. 

 Not unfrequently gentlemen will be met at a fishing 

 locality, whose outfit, chosen in ignorance of the pecul- 

 iarities of that water, is utterly unsuited thereto. To a 

 brother angler so situated spare freely from your own 

 superabundance, giving him all possible assistance. Pro- 

 priety and policy alike forbid that the eager competition 

 of every-day life should contaminate this sport. Anglers 

 gather to a fishing centre from the most distant portions 

 of the country, and scatter again to their homes, carry- 

 ing with them a fixed opinion of those they may have 

 happened to meet. The acquaintances and friendships 

 so formed should recall no recollection other than of 

 pleasure. That a good name is better than riches is an 

 old saying, but it still retains the vitality of youth. He 

 who is selfish in his sports is a marked man, for what 

 must such a one be in his every-day life? The true 

 angler governs his conduct towards his fellow-fishermen 

 by the Golden Rule : " Do unto others as you would 

 they should do unto you." He who acts otherwise is 

 unworthy the name. As you become proficient, by no 

 means forget that you were once a beginner, and to such 

 ever extend the helping hand. 



Every fly-fisherman has his half-dozen or so favorite 

 flies, chosen because of good service in the past. Perhaps 

 no two anglers, if asked to name their half-dozen favor- 

 ites, would altogether agree, unless their preference was 

 based upon fishing the same locality at the same part of 

 the season possibly not even then. But there is one 

 fly, if it may be so called, which every angler most 



