FEBRUARY 47 



have seen, is slightly different. On lakes 

 generally fly-fishing is so attractive that 

 worm and minnow, though not forbidden, 

 are not much in use. They should be 

 more in use. Unless the coarse utility 

 of the net is to be resorted to, it is by 

 means of them alone that the pirates 

 can be kept down. As to the rivers and 

 streams, even those which are open to all- 

 comers will attain their original excellence 

 two or three years after general acceptance 

 of the principle that it is unsportsmanlike 

 and unwise to take a trout which is less 

 than three-quarters-of-a-pound. If all fish 

 under that standard were returned to the 

 water, trout fulfilling the condition of 

 capture, and trout still better, would 

 ere long, in all clean streams, be as 

 abundant as the most exacting angler 

 could wish. Reasons for this statement, 

 and for some of those which have led up 

 to it, will be set forth in our next chapter. 



