The Beginner's First Lesson. 83 



But I promised to take the beginner to the water 

 and give him his first lesson in fly-fishing with the 

 loop-line and spliced rod. On arriving at the river- 

 side with all the implements of your craft, the first 

 act in the day's drama is to place the loop-line, 

 with the cast of flies attached, in the water, so that 

 it m&y be thoroughly soaked, for the purpose of 

 straightening the line and rendering it more tough 

 and pliable. Never fish with dry gut ; it is always 

 brittle, and apt to snap when subjected to any strain. 

 With a length of shoemaker's thread, well-rosined 

 and doubled to make it sufficiently strong, tie to- 

 gether firmly the pieces of the rod, beginning with 

 the spliced ends of the middle and top, and finishing 

 off with the butt. By the time this is completed 

 the line will have been sufficiently steeped, when 

 you may connect it with the rod by passing the loop 

 of the line through the corresponding loop at the 

 point of the rod ; and then, with the rod in your 

 right hand, carefully unwind the line with your 

 left till the trail-fly is reached. 



At first sight it might seem that the operation 

 of tying the rod would be both slow and tedious. 

 In reality, however, it is neither. With properly 

 prepared lengths of thread, a few turns only are 

 necessary to make all fast ; and as the line and cast 

 are all in one, no time is lost in making connections 

 between them. With a little practice, the whole 



