86 Wet-Fly Fishing 



simply nowhere in thirty years' time. What 

 says the pithy proverb ? " As the twig is 

 bent, so is the tree inclined." 



If the beginner wants to get into really 

 " good form," he must not begin by tamper- 

 ing with " bad form." The way to undo 

 all genuine progress as an up-stream wet-fly 

 fisherman is to take it easy : to turn your 

 back to the source, to fish down, and to 

 let your line trail idiotically through the 

 water somehow. Much of this kind of thing 

 soon forms a habit, a lazy habit, which must 

 be avoided at the outset, like poison. I trust 

 to be able to show that we wet-fly fishermen, 

 have methods of our own, of the deepest 

 possible interest ; methods, however, which 

 are seldom revealed, save to the earnest 

 enthusiast, who loves to work out his own 

 problems. 



The rod most suited to any particular 

 fisherman is largely a matter of taste. 

 Some men prefer a two-handed trout rod 

 for a large river. I have a very excellent 

 rod of fourteen feet, and I seldom use it. 

 So much for taste. But, it is not what I 

 have done, or do, for I may be often wrong, 

 and doubtless am often mistaken ; but, 

 when I see how invariably the best fly- 

 fishermen take to a rod which they can use 



