THE BROOK-ANGLER'S EQUIPMENT u 



We are all familiar with that perennial pictorial 

 joke which depicts an elaborately-got-up rodsman 

 fishless and perplexed while a rustic urchin near 

 by, armed with a branch of a tree, twine, meat- 

 hook and lobworm, is covering the greensward 

 with finny spoil. If this interesting episode of the 

 simple life ever came off, it must not be attributed 

 to the rig-out of the candidate so ignominiously 

 defeated, but to his lack of knowing what to do 

 with the good gifts of fortune. I doubt the 

 urchin would have made much hand of a brook at 

 summer level, and this reminds me of a sanguine 

 gentleman who was referred to me regarding one 

 in the West Country. He met me by appoint- 

 ment to go a-fishing, and surprised me by pro- 

 ducing only the second and third joints of an 

 ordinary rod, with the remark that the seven feet 

 would be quite long enough for such a place. He 

 was speedily disillusioned, and the moral I would 

 emphatically point is this : Do not attempt any 

 brook with a rod under iof ft., and one of n ft. 

 is better still. Not that any fault can be found 

 with the short and light fly-rods now so much in 

 vogue. Many of them are exquisite weapons, 

 and with such an one as Hardy and others can 

 turn out no man need fear an encounter with 

 even Salar himself. 



