Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Voices from the Past: The Mysterious R.W. Hubbell (1906)




I was recently researching something completely different and ran across a really interesting article referencing a fly fishing book I've never seen before. It was published in the Wisconsin Alumni Magazine and dates from February 1906.

R. W. Hubbell. who is practicing law at Wautoma, Wis., is an enthusiast about fishing. He is the author of Hints on Fly Fishing, an attractive little pamphlet of some twenty-five pages. The advice contained in the pamphlet is very sensible and to the point. Some of it is very quaintly stated. Here is a sample of the style:

"When you go fishing go alone unless you have a tried, congenial, unselfish companion. Reflect that you should go for enjoyment, mental peace, and not for rivalry and greed. Don't follow close to another man and. if some unmannerly cad hurries to catch up and pass you, let him by. He will fish too fast, in order to try and get all the fish but he will' accomplish little. The man whose back is bristled on the trout stream you will generally find ought to have a ring in his nose at home. True sportsmen are generally genial, big-hearted, unselfish brothers to all they meet on lake, field, or stream. They would no sooner spoil another's sport than they would their own."

Has anyone ever seen Hints on Fly Fishing by R.W. Hubbell?

-- Dr. Todd

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