ANGLING SUITED TO LADIES. 53 



New York and its suburbs are experts at casting a fly for 

 trout or a bait for bass ; and, in my opinion, they lend one 

 of the principal charms to ruralizing. I do not like the pent- 

 up, hide-bound, cynical geniuses of the Diogenes quality, nor 

 yet of those bachelors whose rectangular apartments each 

 side of a hall in our hotels are not inappropriately consider- 

 ed by some as stalls for the stray oxen of society. I agree- 

 with Brother Lathy that 



' ' No scenes more suited are to themes of love, 

 Than whilst on rivers' banks you fish and rove ; 

 T' instruct the fair the happy lover tries, 

 And, grateful, she rewards him with her eyes. 

 No longer, then, our angling sports disdain, 

 Since Venus sprung from Ocean poets feign, 

 Rising all beauteous from the briny main : 

 As, of our grief, do thou partake our pleasure 

 Our life, our heart, our soul, our earthly treasure!" 



When you decide to troll for a day over the tumultuously- 

 seething and hissing waters of Hell Gate, where an oarsman 

 must know the tides and shoals to keep his boat right side 

 up, you will require heavier tackle, and will therefore select 

 them from the plate of " implements for angling in lakes, 

 bays, rivers," etc., on the following page. 



Select a rod from 8 to 9 feet long, like A,B', C, in the en- 

 graving. Let it taper regularly and be rather heavy. The 

 butt and second joint should be made of ash, and the top of 

 lancewood. Bell-metal top and guides are best for mount- 

 ing a trolling-rod, while agate or carnelian are best for the 

 purpose of casting a long distance, as the friction is less on 

 jewels than on metals. The guides for all kinds of bass 

 angling should be large enough to pass a knot in the line 

 through them. In ringing rods for salmon and trout, the 

 rings should be diminished in size from butt to tip, as the 

 rods taper ; but such is not the case with bass guides, all of 

 which should be equal in size and shape, and polished for the 

 line to run smoothly. Large guides are a modern invention. 

 About ten years ago I was fishing at West Island that par- 



