34 Wet- Fly Fishing. 



simplified, and we gain thereby, whether 

 teaching or not. 



To all intents and purposes, the middle 

 and upper waters of the parent river (take 

 the Tweed as an example) are to us, as 

 anglers, quite as much " waters " as are 

 any of the delightful tributary streams bear- 

 ing that title, which flow directly into the 

 parent river itself, but which never become 

 rivers in themselves. Thus it follows that, 

 when we fish, say the Tweed, we must 

 attack that noble river according to the 

 rules laid down in this book elastic rules, 

 I admit. If we bear in mind that the 

 Tweed is a hundred miles in length, it is 

 quite evident that, near its source at 

 Tweedsmuir, it is only a burn, or rather 

 a network of burns. Further down it bears 

 the character of a water, and naturally must 

 be fished as " a water " accordingly, and 

 so on. 



Imagine the case of a man who had 

 lived all his life at Tweedsmuir only fishing 

 these delightful burns, getting suddenly 

 translated to the Tweed from St. Boswells 

 downwards, when his habits were formed. 

 How would the tactics which filled his 

 creel at Tweedsmuir, do, when adapted to 

 the Tweed at St. Boswells ? and even more 



