CHAPTER IV. 



ARTIFICIAL FLY-FISHING. 



LY-FISHING has always been, and we 

 believe always will be, the favourite 

 method of angling; and deservedly so. 

 Few who have once owned its sway are 

 capable of resisting its attractions. What 

 golden memories of the past it recals ! 

 What bright visions of the future it por- 

 trays ! And when May comes, that month 

 pre-eminently the fly-fisher's, with its bright sunny 

 mornings and soft southern breezes, once more, un- 

 encumbered with anything save a light rod and 

 small box of flies, the angler wends his way to some 

 favourite stream. Once more with elastic tread he 

 climbs the mountain's brow, and having gained the 

 summit, what a 'prospect meets his gaze! There, 

 far as the eye can reach, rises into the blue sky 

 summit after summit of the heath- clad hills, while 

 underneath lie the grassy slope and luxuriant meadow, 

 the green corn-field and waving wood, and winding 

 and circling among all like a silver thread lies the 

 far-stretching stream in all its beauty. There is 



