SALMON LINES 123 



He did not, however, do so from choice, but from 

 necessity ; for having once put out his shoulder, 

 he could not manage to throw with a rod of the 

 usual size. He once put this little rod into my 

 hands when we were fishing together in his water ; 

 but, for want of practice, I could make little or 

 nothing of it, but I was astonished to see what a 

 long line he himself could throw with it. It must 

 be noted, however, that he fished from a boat in 

 the upper and narrower part of the Tweed, where 

 the channel is excellent, and where there are few 

 bad rocks ; in a large river, abounding in all 

 those natural obstructions which its waters fight 

 with, no human ingenuity could have saved 

 him from being often cut with such Lilliputian 

 tackle. 



Your line should be about a hundred or a hundred 

 and twenty or thirty yards, according to the breadth 

 of the river you fish in ; tapering, of course, towards 

 the end. Your gut single, clear, and round. Of 

 such you may make a casting line sufficiently 

 strong for any salmon you will ever encounter in 

 these degenerate days. 



The colour of your casting line should depend 

 upon the state of the river. Take some thought, 

 therefore, to adapt it accordingly : in doing so, 

 you may fancy that you and the fish have changed 

 places. Whilst you are on dry land your object of 

 comparison is the dark bed of the river, which 

 misleads you of course ; whereas the objects of 

 comparison to the fish, who lies below, are the 

 colour of the sky and the medium of water. If the 



