CASTING-LINES. 



taking the last look at eight or ten yards of your line, 

 perhaps more, rapidly disappearing in the eddying stream 

 with your casting line and flies acting as advance guard ? 

 The thought of such a catastrophe is enough to make a 

 man's blood run cold. 



Casting lines should also taper, and, provided the gut is 

 good, can scarcely have too fine a termination. Although 

 a great many disciples of the rod always purchase these 

 ready made, every fisherman should be able to knot one 

 up himself. The process is simple. Select your hairs 

 coarse ones for the top, fine ones for the bottom steep 

 them for some minutes in water as warm as the 

 hand can conveniently bear, then knot them together, 

 increasing or diminishing gradually in size according to 

 the end you have commenced at. Care must be taken 

 that such a knot be used as there is no slip to. The safest 

 I know of is formed thus : take the ends to be joined, and 

 place them alongside one another, then take one end and 

 make a single hitch by doubling it back and passing the 

 end through the loop, which pull tight. Do the same with 

 the reverse end, when by pulling on the line both will slip 

 together, the strain having the tendency to lock the knot. 

 After cutting off the surplus ends, take a few turns of very 

 fine silk to whip them down, and the smallest quantity of 

 varnish, will add much to the appearance of the line. 

 There is no amusement that I wot of in which it is so 

 requisite for its lover to know how to make use of his 

 hands and ingenuity. Bad luck, or whatever you choose 

 to call it, may, before an hour's fishing be done, reduce you 

 to the alternative of either ceasing work or manufacturing 



