158 FISHERMAN'S LURES 



Before closing this chapter I would say for the 

 benefit of amateurs that my suggested regulation 

 outfit for trout fishing is somewhat ambiguous. 

 Personal preference plays a great part in what is or 

 can be spent on the outfit. I know of a fly-fisher- 

 man who pays one hundred dollars every season 

 for a new Leonard rod built to order. Whether 

 he needs a new one or not, he gets one. This, of 

 course, to the prudent man of moderate means 

 is pure wastefulness, and an incentive to breed 

 reprehensible pride and boasting of our fishing- 

 tools. After all, the rod, however splendid, is no 

 attraction to the fish. They don't bite it, and a 

 good all-round workmanlike rod of nine feet (more 

 or less), weighing five or six ounces, if thoroughly 

 well made for general use, at from twenty to fifty 

 dollars, is a tool that will suffice for almost any- 

 thing. One that while fishing needs no thought 

 or worry as to breaking from being either too 

 light or too heavy. The rigor of the game requires 

 the rod to be a part of you, to do naturally just 

 what you want of it. Indeed, a favorite rod in 

 time becomes a sort of hobby, that to change for 

 another would grieve us. For the small, light lures 

 I use my best English "Hardy," tapered dry- 

 fly line, which enormously facilitates casting 



