181 



on set lines, they are rarely taken with the fly at night, 

 and fishing for them would not pay for the trouble. 

 Whether fish will bite or rise at night is a question that 

 must be determined in different localities by trial. We 

 do not know any rules or principles that govern. There 

 are only few kinds of fish that we know of that always, 

 in all places and on all occasions bite better at night than 

 during the day, and those are our uneasy friends, the eel, 

 and bullhead and catfish. Darkness suits their sinuous 

 nature. 



The next suggestion of general application is the 

 desirability of using the finest tackle that can be ob- 

 tained and that is otherwise suitable. When we look at 

 the heavy rods, the clumsy materials, the coarse lines 

 and the huge flies that are so much in vogue, we won- 

 der that any fish are caught, and feel that we cannot too 

 often or too earnestly press upon those of our readers 

 who desire to reach more than mediocrity in the art the 

 necessity of fine tackle. We have found anglers fishing 

 for salmon with a three-ply twisted leader fit to haul over 

 the rocks the heaviest bass, and almost capable of defy- 

 ing the shark-like jaws of the blue fish. We have seen 

 gentlemen at the club houses along the coast where they 

 would be expected to be educated and refined, using 

 double brass wire for leaders, to catch striped bass in the 

 surf in order to escape the occasional raids of the blue 

 fish. But more objectional than all, the practice of a 

 large part of our trout fly-fishermen is to use a leader of 

 gut heavy enough to hold a salmon. Anglers who do 

 these things will never be " lucky." Instead of sighing 

 for better fortune or envying their brethren who bring 

 in better filled baskets they should heed these words, 

 and get better tackle. 



