PROPER TACKLE 123 



size. He once put this little rod into my hands 

 when we were fishing together in his water ; but, 

 for want of practice, I could make little or nothing 

 of it, but I was astonished to see what a long line 

 he himself could throw with it. It must be noted, 

 however, that he fished from a boat in the upper 

 and narrower part of the Tweed, where the channel 

 is excellent, and where there are few bad rocks ; in 

 a large river, abounding in all those natural obstruc- 

 tions which its waters fight with, no human ingenuity 

 could have saved him from being often cut with 

 such Lilliputian tackle. 



Your line should be about a hundred or a 

 hundred and twenty or thirty yards, according to 

 the breadth of the river you fish in ; tapering, of 

 course, towards the end. Your gut single, clear, 

 and round. Of such you may make a casting line 

 sufficiently strong for any salmon you will ever 

 encounter in these degenerate days. 



The colour of your casting line should depend 

 upon the state of the river. Take some thought, 

 therefore, to adapt it accordingly : in doing so, you 

 may fancy that you and the fish have changed 

 places. Whilst you are on dry land your object of 

 comparison is the dark bed of the river, which mis- 

 leads you of course ; whereas the objects of com- 

 parison to the fish, who lies below, are the colour 

 of the sky and the medium of water. If the water 

 then be moss-stained, your gut may be very faintly 

 tinged of the same colour, — very faintly indeed, as 

 all dyes are overdone ; but if the river be clear, do 

 not on any account stain your casting line at all. 

 The sky may vary in colour every minute : an 



