42 Fly-rods and Fly-tackle. 



natural condition unnecessary disadvantages attend their 

 use. Though superior to the ordinary linen line in this 

 respect, still if it is desired that they should retain their 

 strength, they must be taken from the reel and carefully 

 dried after use. 



Aside from this, the inferior strength of the raw-silk 

 line, and the greater friction caused by its rougher sur- 

 face in its passage through the rings, would give the 

 preference to that of boiled silk. But that also has seri- 

 ous disadvantages. One trial, particularly if the experi- 

 menter be wading, will graduate him as far as this is 

 concerned. They are so very soft and pliable, that on the 

 slightest provocation they take a turn around the outer 

 end of the tip ; the line is then locked for the time be- 

 ing, and will render neither way. After having waded 

 to the shore four or five times to find a support for the 

 butt, so that the end of the tip and the entanglement 

 may be reached, an effort will probably be made to vary 

 the monotony of this proceeding, by placing the butt 

 on some neighboring stone protruding above the water. 

 And if this is followed, as it is apt to be, by the butt 

 and reel slipping off into the water at the very crisis of 

 the disentanglement, to the great peril if not disaster to 

 your tip, you will then have opportunity to exercise a 

 wise discrimination as to which of the two annoyances 

 you will elect to suffer in the future. If to this is added 

 the probability that you first discover the mischance 

 after a cautious approach to some extra promising pool, 

 and when you wish to lengthen your line, so as to lay 

 your flies just where you feel sure the aldermen of the 

 brook are assembled together ; or worse still, after you 

 have fastened to one of those aldermen, or possibly the 

 chairman of the board, and find that you can neither 



