232 GUN, ROD, AND SADDLE. 



IDEAS ON FLY-FISHING-. 



To those who have gained skill from constant prac- 

 tice in the gentle art, I do not address my remarks ; 

 still they can read if they will, provided they will 

 do so in good temper, and furnish beginners with 

 such minutia? as have been forgotten, or have not 

 been told. I fancy I hear numbers dissenting from 

 my proviso, for it was only through long months, 

 ay, years of toil we may also say pleasure they 

 gained the information on fly-fishing which they 

 now possess, and, therefore, why impart the result 

 of their study to Tom, Dick, and Harry. But if 

 our forefathers through generations had held back 

 their views and experiences, for such selfish reasons, 

 do you suppose the machinist, the naturalist, the 

 navigator, etc., etc., of the days in which we live, 

 would be as proficient as they are in their respec- 

 tive trades or sciences ? For all Izaak Walton states, 

 I much fear the followers of the rod and line pos- 

 sess the quality of selfishness. As one of its votaries, 



