378 Book of the Black Bass. 



split-bamboo rods are the best in the world, and the nu- 

 merous foreign orders received by the manufacturers fully 

 attest .this fact, and show, moreover, that they are duly 

 appreciated abroad, as well as at home, highly varnished 

 and flashing though they be. 



There is one feature of this subject that is peculiarly 

 gratifying to me, and I heartily thank Mr. Francis for the 

 article in question. It concedes the fact that fish, having 

 eyes, can see, and are not the near-sighted dupes that most 

 writers would have us believe; this concession could not 

 be put in a stronger light than by the assertion that they 

 are frightened at the flashing of a varnished rod, and that 

 a rod, therefore, should be rendered as nearly invisible as 

 possible by painting it a sky-blue or cloud color. But if 

 this were done, what a quantity of brash wood and poor, 

 workmanship, and what a multitude of sins of omission 

 and commission would this sky-blue mantle, like charity, 

 cover ! 



When fish are frightened at a fishing-rod at aU, it is 

 when its shadow is suddenly cast upon the water — which 

 all prudent anglers are very careful to avoid doing, espe- 

 cially on small streams — and, viewed in this light, a sky- 

 blue rod has not even a fancied advantage over the most 

 highly-polished one. 



The most important rule, then, to be observed, first, last, 

 and all the time in fly-fishing, is : Keep out of sight of the 

 fish; this is the first and great injunction; "and the sec- 

 ond is like unto it : " Keep as quiet and motionless as pos- 

 sible. " On these two " laws depends all yx>uT success in 

 fly-fishing. Let vour necessary movements be deliberate 

 and methodical, avoiding all quick, sudden, or energetic 

 motions. Fish see and hear much better than we give 

 them credit for. To keep out of the fish's sight we must 



