AN APOLOGY FOR FISHING 57 



quite as much calculated to attract attention as 

 any other part of the fly ? Of course, to some 

 extent, this cannot be helped, the hook being a 

 necessity of the fisher's case, but surely it might in 

 many instances be much more carefully concealed 

 than it is. The fly might, for instance, be dressed 

 not actually on the shank of the hook, but on a 

 piece of gut or bristle attached to it and hanging 

 loose on the hook so as almost to hide it. In 

 putting on a worm as a bait — the worm having 

 the advantage of being the real thing — we take 

 the utmost pains to conceal the hook ; in putting 

 on the fly — which has the disadvantage of being 

 not the real thing but a counterfeit — why should 

 we not do precisely the same thing ? 



It cannot be insisted on too strongly and too 

 frequently that the whole of this transaction, 

 which we call fly-fishing, is, from beginning to end, 

 a most elaborately carried out piece of deception. 

 But troublesome and difficult and inseparably con- 

 nected with all sorts of disappointments as it is, 

 yet is the game unquestionably well worth the 

 candle, fishing, when really successful, being beyond 

 all question one of the most delightful of occupa- 

 tions, while even when only moderately successful, 

 it is full of charm and interest to any one who 

 takes it up in earnest. 



