88 FLY FISHING FOR TROUT. 



lines used were like those of my boyhood, light 

 and thin, mighty difficult to cast compared to 

 the heavy tapered article now in use. 



Now as to reels. Here again the practice 

 varied greatly. David Webster in his enter- 

 taining and practical book, The Angler and the 

 Loop-Rod, was still using no reel as late as 

 1885; but he is a bit of an eccentric, in that as 

 in other matters. He was a century behind his 

 time, for reels for salmon fishing were in 

 general use by the beginning of the eighteenth 

 century, and for trout fishing during its last 

 half. They were plain barrel winders of brass. 

 The multiplying reel also appeared. The first 

 mention I know is an advertisement of the 

 tackle maker Onesimus Ustonson, which is at 

 the end of my copy of Smith's True Art of 

 Angling, 1770 edition. Best in his Concise 

 Treatise 1787 recommends its use in fly fishing, 

 and putting these two notices together, it must 

 have been not uncommon at that time. Two, 

 three, or four flies are recommended by Robert 

 Howlett in the Anglers' Sure Guide 1706, and 

 this number was common throughout the 

 period ; but in this matter also Webster was an 

 eccentric, for he never used less than the 

 terrific number of nine, though he allows the 

 novice to begin with six. The single fly was by 

 no means discarded ; many skilful fishers recom- 

 mend it, and of course for the dry fly, just 

 beginning to emerge, it was essential. 



Modern fly dressing starts with Bowlker's 



