58 



water-end of your casting-line, to which it must 

 be attached by means of the slip-knot. The 

 length of the link on which the tail-fly, or 

 stretcher, is tied, ought to be about nine inches 

 long. The distance on your casting-line be- 

 tween each of your flies must be twenty inches. 

 The length of the gut to which your droppers 

 are tied, need not be more than two inches. 

 The majority of anglers use and advise gut of 

 three inches long, but we are sure from expe- 

 rience that they are in error. If you use four 

 flies at a time on your casting-line, its length 

 must be three yards; if you use five, the length 

 must be three yards and a half. Those lines 

 must be knotted in the same way, and made as 

 equally taper, as the line of two yards and a 

 half, and the tail-fly and droppers must be 

 attached to them in a similar manner. 



It will aid you very much in flinging out 

 properly your casting-line, if you have one good 

 length of horse-hair coming between it and the 

 reel-line. This link of horse-hair must consist 

 of four long and strong hairs twisted with the 

 hand together, and they must be pulled from 

 the tail of a chesnut or bay stallion, or gelding, 

 of four or five years old. Never let the hair, 

 either of fillies or mares, enter into the compo- 

 sition of your tackle.* 

 * " Hair, if plucked from the tail of a young horse or 



