TO THE READER. 21 



leave ; but will stay a little and tell him, that whereas it is 

 said by many that in fly-fishing for a trout the angler must 

 observe his twelve several flies for the twelve months of the 

 year : I say, he that follows that rule shall be as sure to 

 catch fish, and be as wise, as he that makes hay by the fair 

 days in an almanac, and no surer ; for those very flies that 

 use to appear about and on the water in one month of the 

 year, may the following year come almost a month sooner 

 or later, as the same year proves colder or hotter ; and yet, 

 in the following Discourse, I have set down the twelve flies 

 that are in reputation with many anglers, and they may 

 serve to give him some observations concerning them. And 

 he may note, that there are in Wales and other countries, 

 peculiar flies, proper to the particular place or country ; and 

 doubtless, unless a man makes a fly to counterfeit that very 

 fly in that place, he is like to lose his labour, or much of it ; 

 but for the generality, three or four flies, neat and rightly 

 made, and not too big, serve for a trout in most rivers all 

 the summer. And for winter fly-fishing it is as useful as 

 an almanac out of date ! And of these, because as no man 

 is born an artist, so no man is born an angler, I thought fit 

 to give thee this notice. 



When I have told the reader, that in this fifth impression 

 there are many enlargements, gathered both by my own 

 observation and the communication with friends, I shall 

 stay him no longer than to wish him a rainy evening to 

 read this following Discourse ; and that, if he be an honest 

 angler, the east wind may never blow when he goes a-fish- 

 ing. I. W. 



