2fiU ANGLING FOE GAME FISH. 



waterproofed with an oil dressing,* and tapered for about 

 five yards at one or both ends. If at both ends, when one 

 end is worn ont the line can be turned. The line should 

 be solid. Avoid lines wholly or partly of hair. No one who 

 has fly-fished with a dressed silk line will use any other. 

 "With the powerful rods now in vogue, especially those of 

 split cane, a very heavy line may be used. Weight insures 

 that accurate and lengthy casting which is so necessary when 

 fishing for a rising trout. The thick part does not go within 

 four yards of the fish, for the line tapers down to a fine 

 point not much thicker than the three-yard gut cast, which 

 also tapers. The thickness or weight of the line should 

 depend on the strength of the rod. It is no uncommon 

 thing for a Hampshire fisherman to use a line almost as 

 thick as an ordinary salmon line above the tapered portion. 

 With such lines I have seen a fly dropped like a piece of 

 thistle-down exactly in front of a rising fish certainly not less 

 than 25yds. distant from the angler. It is very difficult to 

 buy a well-dressed line, for those of commerce are dressed to 

 dry quickly, and a quickly-dried line is hard, and cracks and 

 becomes useless very soon. 



Thirty-five yards of this thick line are usually sufficient. To 

 them should be spliced 30yds. or 40yds. of a finer line. The 

 best back lines — as they are termed — I know of, are the twisted 

 silk lines used for pike by the Trent fishermen. They are 

 very strong. The splice is effected thus : Unravel 2iin. of the 

 twisted line, and scrape with a knife 2iin. of the plaited line. 

 Well cobbler's-wax the ends, lay them together, and roll them 

 ^between the finger and thumb. Then carefully bind them 

 over with well-waxed silk. To finish off the silk, lay a pen- 



* The following is the dressing for lines which is given in " Angling for Coarse 

 Fish " : — " The best dressing is simply raw linseed oil but it takes such a lonji: time 

 to dry that it is rarely used , next best is boiled linseed oil. The line is soaked for 

 a week in the oil (cold), then stretched between two trees, well rubbed with a piece 

 of smooth leather (this gets the air-bubbles out of the line), and then put to soak 

 for two more days. It is then again stretched between trees, the superfluous 

 oil wiped gently off and left to dry— the drying will take about two months. In 

 wet Weather the line should be taken indoors. When this first coat is dry, the line 

 should be put into the oil for two more days, and a^ain be put out to dry. The 

 operation takes, altogether, about six months. If it is desirable to put on a fine 

 polish, this Cd.n easily be done, when the line is dry, by well rubbing it with a piece 

 of leather on which is a little raw linseed oil." 



