.ADVICE FOR ANGLERS. 313 



or the awkward positions in which you- may occasionally 

 be placed; where it is absolutely necessary for the 

 fisherman to put on an unusual and severe strain to 

 turn a hooked fish, so as to prevent his going over 

 some surging fall, or down or up stream, inaccessible 

 to the steps of the angler. Sometimes, of course, the 

 loss of fish, or even fish and tackle, cannot be avoided ; 

 but good, careful work and the best materials will 

 frequently obviate so annoying an ordeal. However, 

 having struck your fish, the tackle and your own 

 coolness are generally responsible for the issue, and 

 woe betide you if careless knot or indifferent tying 

 should have been made in constructing your leader or 



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I would therefore advise all gentlemen to acquaint 

 themselves thoroughly with the method of their con- 

 struction, for though they may not have time and 

 inclination to follow it as a pursuit, they may chance 

 to be placed in positions where their pleasure and the 

 success of their expedition may be entirely marred by 

 want of this knowledge. 



I would further advise that your leaders should be 

 stained as nearly as possible to the colour of the water ; 

 but care should always be taken not to make them too 

 dark, as you thus go to the opposite extreme that you 

 adopt this plan to avoid. Brown and a bluish-grey or 

 light neutral tint are decidedly the best colours, the 

 former to be used when the water is clearing out after 

 heavy falls of rain. To procure the first-mentioned 

 colour, a few ounces of alum dissolved with a pound 

 of the bark of the walnut tree when the sap is up, I 

 think, is the simplest recipe ; while the latter colour 

 can be got by substituting logwood for walnut. 



