THE ANGLER'S GUIDE 71 



grayling, perch, pike-perch, pickerel (Long Island brook 

 pickerel ) , sunfish, roach, dace, shad, herring (branch ) , etc.; 

 in brackish water for shad, trout, white perch, etc.; and in 

 salt-water for bluefish (young ) , herring (common ) , mack- 

 erel, and doubt not, kind sir, for I am prepared to prove 

 it squeteague (weakfish ) , plaice (fluke, summer flounder ) 

 and other species of both bottom and surface habitats 

 another "endless field for argument, speculation and experi- 

 ment." 



As there are many forms of fly-fishing, so are there many 

 ways of fly-fishing for trout, and many kinds of trout, the 

 various forms of brook trout, lake trout and sea trout. 



Volumes would be required to discourse intelligently upon 

 all these forms of trout and fly-fishing for them; so, I pur- 

 pose in this particular instance to confine myself to one 

 species and one form of trout and one order of fly-fishing. 



The trout referred to is the true brook trout, scientifically 

 alluded to as Salvelinus fontinalis and commonly called , 

 besides brook trout (its most popular name), speckled 

 trout, mountain trout, speckled beauty, spotted trout, etc. 



The fly-fishing treated of is that popular form that is 

 most indulged in by the eastern trout fly-fisherman small- 

 stream fishing in the mountains and wooded level lands 

 that "carries us," as Davy wrote as far away as 1828 "into 

 the most wild and beautiful scenery of nature to the clear 

 and lovely streams that gush from the high ranges of 

 elevated hills." 



Above all other styles of fly-fishing, it calls for the most 

 delicate tackle and the very daintiest hand. 



"How delightful," says the author of Salmonia, "in the 

 early spring, after the dull and tedious time of winter, 

 when the frosts disappear and the sunshine warms the 

 earth and waters, to wander forth by some clear stream, to 

 see the leaf bursting from the purple bud, to scent the odors 

 of the bank perfumed by the violet, and enameled, as it 

 were, with the primrose and the daisy; to wander upon 

 the fresh turf below the shade of trees, whose bright 

 blossoms are filled with the music of the bee; and on the 

 surface of the waters to view the gaudy flies sparkling like 

 animated gems in the sunbeams, whilst the bright and 

 beautiful trout is watching them from below; to hear the 

 twittering of the water-birds, who, alarmed at your ap- 

 proach, rapidly hide themselves beneath the flowers and 

 leaves of the water-lily; and, as the season advances, to 

 find all these objects changed for others of the same kind, 

 but better and brighter, till the swallow and the trout 

 contend as it were for the May fly, and till in pursuing 

 your amusement in the calm and balmy evening you are 

 serenaded by the songs of the cheerful thrush, performing 

 the offices of paternal love in thickets ornamented with the 

 rose and woodbine." 



The other forms of fly-fishing for trout, the pursuit of 

 larger specimens of the same species in larger waters, the 

 lakes and ponds and rivers all equally inviting by their 



