THE TROUT. 43 



PLY FISHING 



Is the most successful, and, by immeasurable degrees, the most 

 delightful mode of angling for trout. It is graceful and gentle- 

 manly, and can be enjoyed by all who exhibit any anxiety to ac- 

 quire the art. It is also the most independent mode. You take 

 your rod, fishing-creel, and fly-book, and roam away over half a 

 kingdom, without any further trouble about baits, or incumbrance 

 from nets, or fish-kettles, or other trumpery. In point of exciting 

 the mind and sustaining a jpyous hilarity, it is infinitely preferable 

 to all other modes of exercising the gentle art. The constant at- 

 tention which the angler must pay to his flies as they glide on the 

 water, the repeated changes of locality, the calm and placid pleasure 

 infused into the soul by sparkling and gushing streams, the con- 

 stant exercise of his skill in casting and drawing his line, the 

 gentle tantansings of his hopes by frequent unsuccessful risings at 

 the fly, the dexterity and management requsite in killing a fish 

 with such delicate materials, and the uncertainty which always 

 hangs over his successful capture, all tend to awaken and keep 

 alive that feeling of the mind on which rests the whole charm of 

 the art. In short, in fly-fishing all the elements are judiciously 

 combined, which contribute to render angling an agreeable and 

 healthy amusement. 



Before we enter into any detail with reference to the application 

 of artificial flies, we beg to make a few preliminary observations, 

 which may possibly be of use to the unexperienced angler. 



This mode of fishing has given birth to an enormous mass of 

 discussion and conjecture, as to the best kinds of flies for par- 

 ticular countries and waters, so cumbrous and voluminous as to 

 be quite forbidding and confounding to the younger professors 

 of the art. Imagination has been allowed to usurp the place of 

 judgment; and trifling theories, that of comprehensive and well- 

 digested experience. A fly-fisher goes to the waters agitated by a 

 thousand fancies, as to what kind and colour of fly the fish are 

 likely to take ; and if he be not successful in hooking fish after 

 three or four casts, down he squats and puts on another set of flies. 

 This sort of thing occupies nearly the whole day ; he is constantly 

 shifting his tackle, so that in the evening, his creel is as empty as 

 it was in the morning. 



Now, we have long arrived at the conclusion, that anglers are 

 vastly more faslidious about the shape and colour of their flies than 

 trout are. The fact seems to be, that when trout are inclined to 

 feed on this kind of bait, it does not much signify what shape or 

 colour your fly is, provided the size^ be strictly attended to. Any 

 great disproportion in this particular, will decidedly mar all 

 chances of success. When a stream has been completely covered 

 with what is called the "May-fly" and the fish rising at them in 

 all directions, we have often and often filled our creel in quick 



