TO ALL FLYFISHERS. 



THE following home-spun pages owe not their origin 

 to any intention of printing, but were written for the 

 Author's memoranda and reference. They are the 

 casual gatherings of Fifty Seasons, the greater part of 

 which past with partial practice, observation, informa- 

 tion, and research ; which altogether furnished but a 

 misty and undefined knowledge of the Angling Flies ; 

 and which seems to be the stopping point of all the 

 craft. Bewildered with numbers, names, sizes, colors, 

 and shapes, the latter suggested their classification, 

 which cleared away much perplexity ; and ultimately 

 the memoranda assumed a character that may prove 

 intelligent and useful to the lovers of flyfishing, which 

 induced their author to throw them together into being 

 rather than their being lost. They are intended to lay 

 bare the foundations of artificial flyfishing, which is 

 the most gentle and scientific of any other branch of 

 angling. It tortures no baits ; it punishes nothing but 

 the fish that would murder the fly; it keeps the 



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