Leaders. 85 



be obliged to hunt them up. Then put on the strain. 

 It will of course break at the weakest point, and in two 

 or three trials these will be eliminated. 



In September of 1883 a friend was about to make his 

 maiden cast in Maine waters, to which he had been at- 

 tracted by reports of the large trout which might be 

 there taken. Since the trip had been determined on, he 

 had dreamed of nothing but big trout, and his ardor was 

 at fever heat. Beside leaders fit to hold a shark, which 

 had been specially provided for that occasion, he had 

 half a dozen lighter ones, left from a previous excursion 

 to the Adirondacks. He was strongly recommended to 

 test, and, if strong enough, to use the latter. Not one of 

 them, on the first trial, bore a strain of half a pound with- 

 out rupture. Some broke three times, but not one failed 

 finally to endure four and a half pounds, and that with 

 but trivial loss in length. Had he used the leaders he in- 

 tended, their excessive thickness and unnecessary obtru- 

 siveness would doubtless have seriously lessened his 

 chances of success with the grade of fish he had come so 

 far to take; while had he employed the others, how great 

 would have been his disappointment when every decent 

 rise he had must have been followed by the loss of the 

 fish, his flies, and a portion of his leader. The fault lay 

 not with the quality of the gut, for that was good enough; 

 but at some time since these leaders were made, they had 

 been subjected to maltreatment when dry, breaking the 

 fibre, and thus rendering the leader worse than useless 

 until the damaged part was eliminated. The most care- 

 ful and critical ocular inspection would have given rise 

 to no suspicion how defective these leaders really were. 

 Actual test alone could detect their weakness. 



Take another instance from my own experience. Some 



