SALMON AND SB A- TROUT. 221 



somewhere about 36oz. The cost of a first-rate 

 greenheart rod would be about 3 guineas, and of 

 a split-cane rod about 10 guineas. The reel is also 

 an expensive thing, and one has to pay at least 

 255. for a 4iin. or a 4^in. reel which can be trusted. 

 The best of all (some kinds have a lever for 

 adjusting the check, which is often very useful) cost 

 considerably more, but they last a long time with 

 moderate care. Such a reel will hold sixty to 

 eighty yards of backing, with forty-two yards of 

 line. 



This last should have the qualities desired in a 

 well-dressed trout line, should be slightly tapered 

 at each end, and should be suited to the rod. One 

 line which I use with the greenheart mentioned 

 weighs about 34oz., and I should not care to employ 

 a heavier one, though there are such things. Even 

 this is only necessary, I find, tn rough weather when 

 one has to cast across or against the wind. I much 

 prefer fishing with another line that weighs about 

 2joz. Something depends on the action of the 

 rod. If it is fairly heavy in the top, playing well 

 down to the hand, it will carry a heavy line ; but if 

 it is light in the top and stiff at the butt (the 

 pattern used by our ancestors), it will only carry a 

 light one. I have an i8ft. split-cane of the second 

 type which is altogether overweighted by the 3|oz. 



