278 THE COMPLETE ANGLER 



angle at ; and for a trout-river, one of five or six yards 

 long * is commonly enough ; and longer, though never so 

 neatly and artificially made, it ought not to be, if you 

 intend to fish at ease ; and if otherwise, where lies the 

 sport ? 



Of these, the best that ever I saw are made in York- 

 shire, which are all of one piece ; that is to say, of several, 

 six, eight, ten, or twelve pieces, so neatly pieced, and 

 tied together with fine thread below, and silk above, as to 

 make it taper like a switch, and to ply with a true bent to 

 your hand ; and these too are light, being made of fir- 

 wood for two or three lengths nearest to the hand, and 

 of other wood nearer to the top, that a man might very 

 easily manage the longest of them that ever I saw, with 

 one hand ; and these, when you have given over angling 

 for a season, being taken to pieces, and laid up in some 

 dry place, may afterwards be set together again in their 

 former postures, and will be as straight, sound, and 

 good, as the first hour they were made ; and being laid 

 in oil and colour, according to your master Walton's 

 direction, will last many years. 



The length of your line, to a man that knows how to 

 handle his rod, and to cast it, is no manner of incum- 

 brance, excepting in woody places, and in landing of a 

 fish, which every one that can afford to angle for pleasure, 

 has somebody to do for him ; and the length of line is a 

 mighty advantage to the fishing at a distance ; and to fish 

 fine, and far off, is the first and principal rule for trout- 

 angling.f 



* Too long by one or two yards. E. 



t An artist may easily throw twelve yards of line with one hand ; 

 and with two, he may as easily throw eighteen. H. 



[An accomplished fly-flsher of the present day can throw his fly a 

 distance of fifteen yards with a single-handed rod, and twenty-five 

 and even thirty yards with the double-handed salmon-rod. Modern 

 superiority in throwing the fly is the result of fishing with far better 

 rods and lines than those used in the time of Sir John Hawkins 

 about a century ago. E.] 



