52 SALMON FISHING IN CANADA. 



ponent parts, I do not by any means intend to assert that 

 they are the only flies which will be successful in the 

 Canadian rivers ; on the contrary I am certain that others 

 ^vill be found killing also. I have myself lured the noble 

 salmon with almost every description that is to be found 

 in the books of practitioners or in the stores of manu- 

 facturers ; and at times have been tempted to believe that 

 it mattered not what a man fished with, in fact that they 

 would take anything. But I have had occasion to change 

 my mind : they are not always in this generous mood, and 

 it is when they are chary and shy, cautious and lazy, that 

 we value the fly which draws them from their lurking 

 places and rouses them into action. Such, my friends and 

 I have found the above-named flies to be ; and I would 

 recommend any man who sets forth on a pilgrimage to the 

 rivers on the eastward of Quebec, to take at least twelve 

 dozen of them, well and firmly tied, on double and single 

 gut, for he \vill require both, in addition to all the materials 

 for tying others. 



Let no man say here, " I cannot tie flies, and I would 

 not be bothered with doing so even if I could." To any 

 one who would feel inclined to utter such an exclamation 

 I would say, " Go to the shop of any respectable manu- 

 facturer or to the sanctum of any piscatorial friend, and 

 get one or two lessons in the art of tying, and then if your 

 own ingenuity won't help you to the rest, you are not fit to 

 be a fisherman, for you know not really what the pleasure of 



