TROUT FISHING. 269 



THE ARTIFICIAL FLY 



" Fly-fishing is certainly the most gentlemanly and pleasant kind 

 of angling, and it has many advantages over every other mode of 

 fishing. In the first place, your apparatus is light and portable ; for 

 a slight rod, twelve feet long — or if wanted for a narrow and wooded 

 stream, one of ten feet only would be more convenient — a reel con- 

 taining thirty yards of line, a book of artificial flies, and a landing- 

 net, and you are fully equipped for the sport. In the second place, it 

 is the most cleanly and the least cruel mode of angling, as you are 

 not obliged to soil your hands by ground bait, or live bait.s, nor to 

 torture a living fish, or insect, on your hook. Another charm in fly- 

 fishing is, that you are never fixed to one spot, but continue to rove 

 along the banks of the stream, enjoying, in your devious path, all the 

 varieties of its scenery ; the exercise induced is constant, and not 

 too violent, and is equally conducive to health and pleasure. I have 

 already said that a one-handed rod should be ten or twelve feet long, 

 and a two-handed rod from sixteen to eighteen feet ; to either of 

 which must be attached a reel containing thirty yards of twisted silk 

 and hair line, tapering from a moderate thickness to a few hairs, at 

 the end of which you are, by a loop, to attach the bottom tackle. 

 This should be made of round, even gut, and three yards long ; some 

 persons prefer four yards ; but I think too great a length of gut 

 increases the difiiculty in casting the line. Those bottom tackles may 

 be purchased at the shops in two, three, or four-yard lengths. These 

 lines should also taper gradually, the gut being much stronger at the 

 end which is to be attached to the line on the reel, than at the end to 

 which the stretcher-fly is to be fixed. When you fish with only two 

 flies, the second — or drop-fly — should be at a distance of thirty-six or 

 forty inches from the bottom, or stretcher-fly ; but, if you use three 

 flies, the first drop should be only thirty-four inches from the stretcher, 

 and the second drop thirty inches from the first. These drop-flies 

 are attached to the line by loops, and should not be more than three 

 inches long ; and, by having the gut rather stronger than for the end- 

 fly, they will stand nearly at a right angle from the line. I recom- 

 !nend the beginner to commence with one fly only ; but, at most, he 

 nia«t not use more than two ; and, as for his mode of casting, or 



