APPENDIX 99 



the average fish has an eye which can see more in a second 

 than the ordinary human being would see in a week; the 

 least appearance of deceit frightens it and brings it to a 

 standstill; and the chance is that the angler who practises 

 fraud will be outwitted by instinct and cunning. It is true 

 that when fish are very plentiful and very hungry they will 

 often take bait of any kind, especially if it be kept in mo- 

 tion; but generally they require a very tempting bait. 



3. Any kind of woven line may be used, provided it is 

 durable and not too coarse. Fine braided linen is the most 

 economical, although it rots easily, if not carefully dried 

 before reeling up. 



Be sure to test your line, foot by foot, before you go on 

 a fishing expedition. It only takes a few minutes, and 

 will save you many an anxious moment. 



Braided silk is the best line of all, but not easy to procure 

 in a uniform state throughout. Oiled silk is apt to have 

 weak spots, as the oil seems to rot in places. 



All lines, after being in the water, should be dried, if 

 possible in the sun and wind, before being reeled up. Noth- 

 ing rots a line so soon as reeling it up tightly when wet 

 and then allov^^ing it to remain in that state for two or three 

 days, especially if the air be hot and humid. 



4. The choice of a rod and reel is generally regulated by 

 sentiment and the length of one's purse. 



The beginner should purchase a rod and reel every year, 

 so that he may have something to talk about during the 

 long winter evenings, and especially in the early spring, when 

 he begins to think of the pleasures of angling, and fancies 

 he hears in the dim distance the song of the mosquito and 

 the black fly. 



By the time he is an old man, he will then have a collec- 

 tion of fishing material that would satisfy the most ambi- 

 tious, or the most fastidious, angler. Each rod will have 

 its own story; and, if he has, in the end, to revert to the 



