40 Fly as a side-dish. Chapt. iv. 



Still lie may say he prefers the fly, and prefers it so 

 much that he would rather kill fewer by that means than 

 more spinning, on the same principle as he would rather 

 catch fewer with the rod than more with the net. If so, 

 by all means let him stick to the style of fishing from 

 which he derives most pleasure, and I will admit that, 

 besides the advantages already conceded, the fly has 

 this still further recommendation, that it can be thrown 

 further than a minnow. There are pools and runs the 

 best parts of which cannot be reached with the minnow, 

 but that can be well covered with a fly, and there are 

 sometimes places in which, from rushes or weeds, the 

 water cannot be reached at all spinning. For such oc- 

 casions I always carry a fly collar in my fly book, and 

 bend it on till I come to ground where it can be ex- 

 changed again for the spinning tackle. 



But as there are places where it is impossible to bring 

 spinning into play, so are there places where the river 

 is so overhung with forest on all sides that it is difficult 

 enough to get to the water's edge at all, and impossible 

 to find room to throw a fly. In such places even the 

 staunch advocate of the fly will find it advantageous to 

 have a spinning collar in his pocket, ready for exchange 

 till such time as he can revert to his favorite lure. If 

 he spins at all well, the result may induce him to keep 

 the spinning tackle on a little longer, and perhaps even- 

 tually convert him. 



But if he still prefers the fly, or at any rate wishes 

 to use it on occasion, I must request him to be good 



