FLY-FISHING. 405 



ing them to an extent to frighten them away or prevent 

 their biting ; indeed, the unnatural shaking or disturbance 

 of a bush near the brink, by the careless angler, will 

 alarm the denizens of the stream more than the most highly- 

 varnished and brightly-mounted rod ever made, when 

 waved over the stream by an angler who keeps himself hid 

 from view ; and herein lies, to my mind, the key to this 

 whole matter. 



It is the angler who scares the Trout, and not his rod ; 

 and this probably applies with more force to the compara- 

 tively narrow arid open streams of Great Britain than to 

 the more extensive waters of our own country ; this view 

 seems more probable in connection with the fact that Mr. 

 Francis advises casting sideways instead of overhead, which 

 method could only be practiced successfully on narrow 

 streams, for side way casts are necessarily short ones, and 

 would not answer at all for most of our waters. There 

 are situations, however, when the sideway cast can be 

 used advantageously, and is used occasionally by all good 

 fly-fishers. 



The main rules to be observed in fly-fishing I conceive 

 to be these : on narrow streams to keep entirely out of 

 sight, and on open waters to make long casts; in either 

 case, the fish, not seeing the angler, will not be alarmed 

 at the flashing of the rod ; the finer the water the greater 

 the caution that must be used on the one hand, and the 

 longer must be the cast on the other. 



Mr. Francis does not oifer any remedy for the varnished 

 rod, but merely suggests that it might answer to paint it 

 sky-blue, or a dull, smoky tint, without polish; but this, 

 I know, will not do. I have seen rods that had the var- 

 nish scraped off and were painted a delicate pea-green, to 



