Fly-Fishing' 25 



notwithstanding that the cruel, clumsy, uncleanly, 

 unfair, wasteful practice of live-bait trout fishing is 

 condemned by every truly gentle disciple and 

 practical authority. 



Most advocates of live-bait trout fishing, who would 

 have us believe that their method is entitled to recogni- 

 tion in the same category with fly-fishing, proudly 

 proclaim that this should be because they "can catch 

 more fish with the worm or minnow than the Angler 

 can catch with his fly/' 



If this reasoning is to settle the debate, if killing and 

 quantity compose the Angler's axiom, why not resort 

 to still more productive means dynamite, or net the 

 stream instead of gently fishing it? 



No, the trout fly-fisherman abhors trout bait-fishing 

 for the same reason the wing shot prefers his appro- 

 priate arm to a cannon; the yachtsman, his gentle 

 craft to a man-o'-war; the horseman, his trained 

 mount to a locomotive; the archer, his arrow instead 

 of a harpoon; and so I might go on in similes that 

 would burlesque every form of recreative amusement 

 in the world. 



The brook trout breeds in the autumn, favors 

 eddies, riffles, pools, and deep spots under the banks of 

 the stream, and near rocks and fallen trees, and feeds 

 on flies, small fish, worms, and other small life forms. 



Its shape, weight, size, and color are influenced by its 

 food, its age, its activity, its habitat, and its habits. 

 Its color corresponds to the color of the water bottom 

 and will change as the water bottom changes. If 

 removed -to a new water, where the bottom color is 

 different from the bottom color of its first abode 

 lighter or darker, as the case may be ; it will gradually 

 grow to a corresponding shade, blending with its new 



