FISHING TACKLE AND HOW TO MAKE IT. 



BY JOHN HARRINGTON KEENE. 



Author of "Fly-Fishing and Fly-Making," etc. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



THE desirability of self-help is more conspicuous in re- 

 gard to angling than any other sport. Very few fisher- 

 men are quite unable to help themselves, it is true; 

 but imagine the plight of the would-be angler by the 

 side of some splendid trout pool, wherein he ever and 

 anon catches sight of incarnadined and gleaming fish- 

 forms, without the least idea of tying a hook, or 

 making a iiy, and with only some twine and loose 

 hooks in his possession ! Or suppose him to be scores 

 of miles from the nearest town, with broken rod, reel 

 full of sand, leaders used up, and flies of the wrong sort — all 

 of which may happen, together or separately — and observe 

 what a benefit the few envelopes of feathers and silk, or the 

 hank of gut, screw-driver and oil-can, and loose hooks, with 

 the knob of wax, are to the sportsman who knows how to fix 

 his own tackle. That man who has taken the trouble — and 

 to the true angler it should be a pleasure — to learn to make 

 his own tackle, is alone worthy the name of "Senior angler," 

 and to him assuredly come the highest guerdons of the 



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