FLY-FISHING. 103 



THE following hints on Fly-fishing are extracted 

 from COLONEL HAWKER'S Instructions to Young 

 Sportsmen. 



" Almost every one is now-a-days a Piscator. 

 The Fanatico, about Easter, goes off as busy as the 

 cockney on his rcunter, when bound to Epping. 

 He generally takes a great many things, and kills a 

 few fish. The old angler takes a few things and 

 kills a great many fish. Some dark, warm, windy, 

 drizzly days, early or late in the season, and par- 

 ticularly when a fine breeze blows from off the 

 banks of a river where no one has begun fishing, 

 the Trout are so easily taken, that a basket full is 

 but little proof of skill. One might then almost 

 train a monkey to catch a Trout. But at other 

 times, and particularly when the fish are well fed, is 

 the time to see who is and who is not an angler. 



" About ninety in a hundred fancy themselves 

 anglers. About one in a hundred is an angler. 

 Now for a few very common faults. One who lets 

 his fly lie too long in the water, after dropping it, 

 is a better killer of time than of fish. He who 

 tries to land a large fish against weeds and stream, 

 where he can take him down, or allows a fish so 

 much line as to be able to rub his nose against the 

 bottom, may be considered as one in need of a 

 fishing master. Enough, however, of defects. Now, 

 then, to the point. 



