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prove acceptable to all experts, tliey are courageously laid down and insisted upon 

 with real earnestness. . . . The salmon angler may be expected to treasure this 

 work as the apple of his eye ; others have aforetime written upon salmon flies, and how 

 to dress them, but neither in America nor in England has the task ever been done with 

 such thoroughness as by Mr. Kelson." 



THE FIELD, March 14///, 1896. 



"This is a inagiiuiii optis, not only on the part of .\Ir. Kelson but among 

 the entire category of practical angling books. . . . It is the long expected, come 

 at last, it being well known that Mr. Kelson has been labouring for years at this 

 monumental embodiment of his wide experiences and theories in salmon fishing, 

 flics and general equipment ; and in all these matters he may be justly said to have 

 achieved fame. . . . The introduction is an essay in which much is said about 

 the need of system, the science, the generalities of rods, flies, fish and fishing. The 

 remark that certain flies bear unmistakably distinctive marks is abundantly illustrated 

 upon the eight beautifully coloured plates of fifty-two salmon flies. . . . The 

 dressings of most of the flies mentioned by Mr. Kelson are given. . . . Of these 

 300 flies, 71 are represented as the author's own patterns. . . . After the 

 introductory chapter, the author comes to a classification of salmon flies, which the 

 amateur or young angler may be recommended to master by aid of the diagrams, 

 and explanations. . . . and in all these indispensables the reader is being 

 instructed by a master of the craft, while the methods of silk tying, hackle 

 manipulation, putting on wings, tinselling, and topping are illustrated by clear and 

 commonsense diagrams. . . . The rod and special equipments are the subject of a 

 thoroughly practical chapter. The essential qualities stamping a good line, 

 Mr. Kelson thinks, are compactness, suppleness, evenness, and durability. He looks 

 with indifference upon the element of strength, from the fact that even the thin end 

 of a tapered line, fit for use, stands a far heavier strain than the gut attached to it. 

 . . . In 'The Rod at the Riverside' we arrive at a variety of casts. . . . 

 There are several diagrams as to shooting line . . . (The Governor Cast) is one 

 of Mr. Kelson's ingenious inventions, and he knows of no other way of reaching fish 

 lying fifty yards or more across the stream. After the casts the reader is instructed 

 as to the places to fish and how to fish them, conclusions in weather study, the effect 

 of rain, the state of the atmosphere, hooking foul, changing flies, artificial catches, 

 striking, playing, gafiing and wading. The chapter entitled 'miscellaneous,' has an 

 essay on silkworm gut, and the way of twisting and looping it. . . . varieties of 

 such impedimenta as receptacles for tackle, an antidote for midges and mosquitoes, 

 with other matters herald the conclusion, to which is appended a table showing the 

 limits of fishery districts, close seasons, rod licenses, and names and addresses of 

 the chairmen and clerks of the several boards of conservators. If any reader has 



