ADVICE FOE ANGLEBS. 323 



may frequently labour, or the awkward positions in which 

 you may occasionally be placed ; where it is absolutely 

 necessary for the fisherman to put on an unusual and 

 severe strain to turn a hooked fish, so as to prevent his 

 going over some surging fall, or down or up stream, 

 inaccessible to the steps of the angler. Sometimes, of 

 course, the loss of fish, or even fish and tackle, cannot be 

 avoided ; but good, careful work and the best materials 

 will frequently obviate so annoying an ordeal. However, 

 having struck your fish, the tackle and your own coolness 

 are generally responsible for the issue, and woe betide you 

 if careless knot or indifferent tying should have been made 

 in constructing your leader or fly. 



I would therefore advise all gentlemen to acquaint them- 

 selves thoroughly with the method of their construction, 

 for though they may not have time and inclination to 

 follow it as a pursuit, they may chance to be placed in 

 positions where their pleasure and the success of their 

 expedition may be entirely marred by want of this 

 knowledge. 



I would further advise that your leaders should be 

 stained as nearly as possible to the colour of the water ; 

 but care should always be taken not to make them too 

 dark, as you thus go to the opposite extreme that you 

 adopt this plan to avoid. Brown and bluish-grey or light 

 neutral tint are decidedly thejbest colours, the former to be 

 used when the water is clearing out after heavy falls of 

 rain. To procure the first-mentioned colour, a few ounces 

 of alum dissolved with a pound of the bark of a walnut 

 tree when the sap is up, I think, is the simplest recipe ; 



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