14 



If there be no eye at the tip of your rod, the best 

 mode is, to fasten at that part a strong piece of reel -line, 

 so as to leave about six inches wherewith to make the 

 draw -knot, the same as if it were the end of a reel- line. 



Of Floats. 



The principles on which every float should be made are, 

 first, that it should sustain the weight of the shot and 

 bait; second, that it should pass easily under water when a 

 fish bites ; third, that the part above the water should not 

 be top-heavy. 



The absence of any one of these requisites renders the 

 float useless. For, if it cannot sustain the appended 

 weights, it must sink, and cannot be a float ; if it does 

 not yield freely to the smallest effort of the fish to take 

 the bait down, it will not only fail to indicate the time 

 for striking, but it will so far oppose die fish as to cause 

 alarm, and consequent disappointment. 



If your float does not stand erect, you never can judge 

 of the depth of water, nor can you draw your line tight 

 enough to be in readiness to strike, at the moment when 

 the fish may have taken the bait into his mouth. 



A float should always be suited to the water, and to 

 the kind of fish you are in pursuit of. Thus in a 

 strong water, where many shots must be on your line so 

 as to sink it to a due depth, and to keep it upright, a cork" 

 float will be requisite 3 likewise in fishing with Hue bait, 

 as will hereafter be shewn. 



Where the water is quiet, a quill-float, proportioned to 

 its depth, and to the weight of the hook, bait, and ap- 

 pended shot, will always prove superior. 



Where the water is shallow, and the current trifling, 



you* 



