Foreword 



These stories, my friends, are as widely varied as 

 fisherman's luck itself. They are stories told by many 

 different anglers, of many sorts of fish, in many kinds 

 of waters, but they have one trait in common the 

 sincere love of angling. 



For unalloyed human interest I think this book 

 contains the most thrilling collection of fishing stories 

 ever printed in one volume. On my bookshelves there 

 are scores of angling books from editions of Izaak 

 Walton to some great books of the present day. Many 

 of these are real literature and will never perish. 



The American angler, I am sorry to say, is not 

 as keen a patron of angling lore as is his English 

 brother. There are many great fishing books writ- 

 ten by Americans as well as Englishmen treasures 

 for those who love running waters and are devotees 

 of " the sport of tempting the unknown with a fishing 

 line." 



Angling literature is a vast expanse of unfished 

 water to the average American. If he would but more 

 often cast thereon a random fly its depths would yield 

 many a rise and strike of interest, beauty and thrill 

 and a full creel of pure pleasure. I find the collecting 



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