IV. 



in the following pages, the opinions which, after upwards of 

 twenty years practical experience as an Angler, I have formed 

 as to fish and fishing. I have, indeed, made it the business of 

 my life to study the habits of fresh- water fish, and to devise the 

 best means of Angling for them at all seasons of the year, and in 

 every condition of the water, — so that the sentiments which I 

 have expressed in this work are not founded on theory, but based 

 on long,careful,anddiligentpersonalobservation. Unfortunately, 

 I am no scholar — I am but a " plaiu blunt man" — and make no 

 pretensions whatever to having written in a pleasing and 

 attractive style. If I have succeeded in making myself under- 

 stood, I have done as much as I expected to be able to perform 

 in a literary way. 



I hope the contents of the book will be found to justify the 

 title which I have adopted for it. I have described the habits 

 of the fish — ^pointed out their haunts at the various seasons of 

 the year — the best baits to use for taking them, and when, how, 

 and where they should be Angled for. I have shown what rods, 

 reels, lines, and tackles should be used in Angling for the different 

 fish ; and, in short, I have given such instructions, and laid down 

 such rules as, I think, if attended to, cannot fail to make a good 

 Angler of the most inapt scholar. 



It will be observed that the Salmon is not among the fish that 

 I have treated of. Although I have had so many years experience 



