The Line. 17 



The Line. 



For fastening the line to the rod an 

 excellent plan is recommended, and one 

 still in use among anglers who do not use 

 a running line, and your " crack " Lea 

 roach angler disdains to use such an aid 

 in killing his fish. Instead of fastening 

 the line merely to the extreme point, you 

 are to secure a piece of line to the splice 

 between the top and the second joint, 

 and then carry it down to the point and 

 make a loop to fasten your main line to, 

 the object being to reduce the risk of 

 losing fish and tackle if the fine top 

 should break, as the line would still be 

 fastened to the stouter wood at the 

 splice. 



Recipes for colouring horsehair yellow, 

 brown, green, tawny, russet, and dusky 

 colours are given. Walton, more than 

 a century and a half later, reproduces 

 some of them almost word for word and 

 without acknowledgment. What ! dear 

 old Izaak among the plagiarists ! But 

 more of this when we come down to his 

 time. 



Then we are told how to twist horse- 

 hairs together to make a line, and the 

 number of hairs to use for various kinds 

 of fish, thus : 



