Lines. 47 



adapted to the average American fly-rod of to-day ; still 

 there is at present unquestionably a tendency among 

 experts towards heavier grades. The enormous distances 

 covered at the recent casting tournaments naturally ex- 

 cite the emulation of those who witness or read of them, 

 and they as naturally turn to that style of line which is 

 best for that purpose. It is undoubtedly an accomplish- 

 ment to be able repeatedly to cast to the distance of 

 eighty feet, and retrieve the line without fastenin'g a fly 

 in your ear ; since he who can do this can cover the ex- 

 treme limit of practical fly-fishing with the utmost ease, 

 and can therefore devote all his attention to delicacy 

 and accuracy. But whether the use on a single-handed 

 fly-rod unless it be very short and stiff of lines so 

 heavy as C or even D is really an advance in the art, 

 seems to me very questionable. Does it not entail a 

 sacrifice on the part of all, except perhaps the most skil- 

 ful, of those important requisites, delicacy and accuracy 

 (construing the latter term to include not only reaching 

 the desired point, but doing so with a perfectly straight 

 line) ; and this to attain a command of distance seldom 

 or never of use except for show ? 



I tried a D tapered line this year for some weeks of 

 constant daily fishing, expressly to satisfy myself in this 

 respect. The conclusions formed for my own guidance 

 were as follows : On a flexible rod the D line seemed at 

 all times a positive disadvantage. Upon a ten-foot stiff 

 split-bamboo, against the wind, it worked well, since hav- 

 ing more momentum it naturally held its way better. 

 In casting over about forty -five feet it really worked 

 like a charm, the line seeming to go backward and for- 

 ward, as if it were alive and acting of its own volition, 

 rather than from the apparently insignificant impulse 



