HINTS ON FLY-FISHING 



1 FISH fine and far off,' say the books ; fine 

 as you please, but never far off, when you can 

 help it. Not that you are to place yourself 

 immediately above the fish, with a short line, 

 but get below them, or, at any rate, abreast of 

 them. Nineteen out of every twenty fish, 

 taken by the fly, are killed with a line under 

 ten yards long from the top of the rod. Whilst 

 the fisher is straining nerves and tackle, and 

 cracking off his flies, to reach a fish in a broad 

 part of a river, let him remember that other fish 

 are rising at the same time in narrower places, 

 which he can cover with ease. It is of no use 

 throwing more line than he can swim when it 

 is thrown ; and this swimming of the artificial- 

 fly is beyond my power to explain, as it par- 

 takes of the nature of Genius. Some acquire 

 it, in a degree, very early, whilst others would 

 plod for a hundred years, without ever dream- 

 ing that such a thing was requisite. Give a 

 fiddler, who knows how to play, Paganini's violin 

 and bow will that make him a Paganini ? 



A fact or two will better illustrate my mean- 

 ing. Two Gentlemen went out together, in 

 Derbyshire, for a few hours' fishing ; they used 

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