6 The American Salmon- fisher Tnan. 



moment of which is fraught with health and happiness, 

 become epidemic among my countrymen ! 



We may safely, assume then, that every fly-fisherman 

 hopes and aspires some day to try his skill against the 

 salmon, since all admit that to be the crowning delight 

 of angling, and its highest development. 



But two formidable obstacles confront the American 

 angler at the outset of his career as a salmon-fisherman. 

 As dollars do not grow on every bush, so salmon are not 

 to be found in every river. He neither knows where nor 

 how to obtain the opportunity; or, having secured that, 

 he does not know what to do with the opportunity when 

 it is had. 



Discouraged by these considerations, many view sal- 

 mon-fishing in about the same light as hippotamus-hunt- 

 ing on the head-waters of the Congo — as something in 

 which they would dearly love to take part, but which is 

 so distant and unattainable as to lie beyond reasonable 

 hope. 



It is the purpose of this book to remove these obstacles 

 from the path of the many who need information, rather 

 than to advise or instruct the fortunate few who already 

 have the lamp of experience to guide their steps. 



The opportunity for salmon-fishing is a mere question 

 of leisure time and dollars and cents. I am well aware 

 of that law of civilized nature which ordains that if you 

 have the money you shall not have the time, and that if 

 you have the time you shall not have the money. But 

 there are many exceptions to this rule, and is it not to 

 force our way into this charmed circle that we rise and 

 renew the bitter struggle of life each morning, and the 

 " daily contact with the things we loathe" ? Nor is 



