404 TH?E COMPLETE ANGLER, PART II. 



angle at : and for a Trout-river, one of five or six yards 

 long is commonly enough ; and longer, though never 

 so neatly and artificially made, it ought not to be, if 

 you intend to fish at ease, and if otherwise, where lies 

 the sport ? 



Or these, the best that ever I saw, are made in 

 Yorkshire; which are all-of-one-piece, [in regard 

 that the joints do not unscrew,] that is to say, of se- 

 veral -six, eight, ten, or twelve pieces, so neatly 

 pieced ; and tied together with fine thread, below, 

 and silk, above; as to make it taper like a switch, 

 and to ply with a true bent to your hand. And 

 these, too, are light ; being made of fir-wood for two or 

 three lengths nearest to the hand, and of other wood 

 nearer to the top; that a man might, very easily, 

 manage the longest of them that ever I saw> with one 

 hand. And these, when you have given over angling 

 for a season ; being taken to pieces, and laid up in some 

 dry place, may afterwards, be set together again in their 

 former postures; and will be as strait, sound, and good, 

 as the first hour they were made ; and being laid in oil 

 and colour, according to your master Walton's direc- 

 tion, will last many years. 



The length of your LINE to a man that knows how 

 to handle his rod, and to cast it is no manner of in- 

 <mmbrance; excepting in woody places, and in land- 

 ing of a fish, which every one that can afford to angle 

 for pleasure, has somebody to do for him. And the 

 length of line is a mighty advantage to the fishing at 

 distance ; and to fish fine and far-off, is the first and 

 principal rule for Trout-angling *. 



Your line in this case, should never be less [than,] 

 nor ever exceed, 'two hairs next to the hook ; for one 

 (though some I know, will pretend to more art than 

 their fellows,) is indeed too few, the least accident, 

 with the finest hand, being sufficient to break it ; But 

 he that cannot kill a Trout of twenty inches long with 



* An artist may easily throw twelve yards of line, with one hand, an4 

 With two, he may as easily throw eighteen. 



