98 AN OPEN CREEL 



ungreased line, in case it is necessary to change to the 

 wet fly. Beside the reels is the oil-bottle, and beside 

 that a little medicine bottle containing a different and 

 patent oil, which I carry because it was so warmly 

 recommended to me, and because a day or an hour 

 may come when ordinary oil will lose its buoyant 

 powers and something special will be required. Then 

 there are a small tin containing rag for anointing the 

 reel line when required ; another tin with cobbler's wax, 

 spare rings, and silk in case of accident ; a duster, a 

 spring-balance, a pair of scissors, a knife, a damping- 

 box, a pair of fly-tweezers, and a pin with a large head. 

 At the last moment other necessities often occur to 

 me, and are added to this list ; but, as a general rule, 

 the things recorded make up the burden. During the 

 Mayfly season, of course, Mayflies have to be taken as 

 well, and that means one box for extra-special flies of 

 fabulous price, another box for ordinary flies, a third 

 box for spent gnats and hackle Mayflies, and a fourth 

 box for that assorted collection which has seen a 

 certain amount of service, and might (but never does) 

 come in usefully again. 



Looking at this awful pile of luggage, I no longer 

 wonder at the fact that my bag often feels heavy on 

 the shoulder long before a fish has been put into it. 

 But I do wonder whether many other anglers stagger 

 about under burdens similarly composed. Some do, I 

 know. I have seen men produce fly-box after fly-box 

 out of their bags, each twice as big as anything I carry. 

 Others possess a " reservoir " box of great size, which 

 is intended to stay at home, and therefore invariably 

 goes down to the water-side. The impulse to be pre- 



