08 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



four hairs at the most, tliou^h you may fish a little stronger above 

 in the upper part of your line ; but if you can attain to angle 

 with one hair, you shall have more rises, and catch more fish. 

 Now you must be sure not to cumber yourself with too long a 

 line, as most do ; and before you begin to angle, cast to have the 

 wind on your back, and the sun, if it shines, to be before you, 

 and to fish down the stream : and carry the point or top of your 

 rod downward, by which means the shadow of yourself and rod 

 too will be the least ofl^ensive to the fish ; for the sight of any 

 shade amazes the fish, and spoils your sport, of which you must 

 take great care. 



In the middle of March, till which time a man should not in 

 honesty catch a trout, or in April, if the weather be dark, or a 

 little windy or cloudy, the best fishing is with the palmer-worm, 

 of which I last spoke to you ; but of these there be divers kinds, 

 or at least of divers colors : these and the May-fly are the ground 

 of all fly-angling, which are to be thus made. 



First, you must arm your hook with the line in the inside of it ; 

 then take your scissors, and cut so much of a brown mallard's 

 feather, as in your own reason will make the wings of it, you 

 having withal regard to the bigness or littleness of your hook ; 

 then lay the outmost part of your feather next to your hook, then 

 the point of your feather next the shank of your hook ; and hav- 

 ing so done, whip it three or four times about the hook with the 

 same silk with which your hook was armed ; and having made 

 the silk fast, take the hackle of a cock or capon's neck, or a 

 plover's top, which is usually better ; take ofl*the one side of the 

 feather, and then take the hackle, silk, or crewel, gold or silver 



at a well-established shop, where you may hope to have thoroughly sea- 

 soned wood, and the maker has a reputation to sustain. Use the plain 

 ferules (if you use them at all, for a well-spliced rod is much better), 

 always taking care to rub them with a tallow candle, that they may be 

 drawn out easily again ; but have nothing shining about the rod, as the 

 flashing of the light will certainly scare the trout. Let your reel be not 

 too large and a multiplier, ivithout a check or balance to the crank, for 

 the first will annoy you, besides being of no use, and the last make your 

 reel turn faster than you think. A click may be added. Kelly is said to be 

 the best rod-maker in Europe, but Conroy in New York can make one so 

 good, that it will be your own fault if it be not successful. — Am. Ed. 



