THE CHOICE OF FLIES 



in all places, and all kinds of fish. Such a fly would 

 make the designer world-renowned among a host 

 of admiring brother anglers. One has a secret 

 thought that perhaps fishing would be then too 

 easy, and the deUghtf ul hope, the fisherman's guide, 

 would be gone forever. 



But it is a noticeable fact that the great majority 

 of bass-fishermen use live bait, — frogs, minnows, 

 helgramites, crayfish, and eels. They imagine that 

 a better-filled creel results from the use of five bait; 

 yet fly-fishing is immeasurably superior in every 

 way. It is cleaner, less cruel to bait and quarry, 

 cheaper and easier in many ways. Who has not 

 travelled some distance, to find his bait short just 

 as the fish are beginning to bite, or at times find 

 his bait dead and therefore useless? and how often 

 it happens that bait costs much more than the fish 

 are worth. Who cares to wade through a stream 

 with a can of minnows dangling in the water, with 

 nerves on edge every minute, as he expects their 

 escape or loss? Frogs are especially " cute " in 

 getting away either by forcing the hd off" the can, 

 or jumping in all directions when the angler has 

 only one hand at liberty; and, worse still, how often 

 will they crawl around a large stone or rock, from 

 which no amount of pulling and tugging moves 

 them, till, weary of trying, a sudden, last, desper- 

 ate jerk parts the leader from the line. 



These and many other ills come not to the fly- 



137 



