148 ON ARMING THE CASTING LINK. 



water, not less than three yards should be used ; three anct 

 a half is even better, and four if the angler can throw it 

 neatly and well which few can, for the longer the casting* 

 line the more difficult it is to throw and place neatly. In 

 rough, windy weather, or in heavy thick water, a shorter 

 line may suffice. In windy weather particularly, a long 

 casting line becomes troublesome. 



In fixing drop flies on a casting line, loops are so clumsy 

 as to be objectionable. I have tried all sorts of plans, 

 and I find the following decidedly the best. At the knots 

 in the cast line, about which I wish to tie my droppers, in 

 cutting off the ends of the gut after tying the knot, I 

 lafp about a quarter or a sixth of an inch of the upper 

 end, or that above the knot, uncut. This I secure to the 

 line by a fine silk lashing, well varnished. On this I tie 

 my dropper. It serves two purposes stops the knot and 

 saves chafing, and strengthens the line at the very point 

 where it is weakest when a fish takes the dropper. I then 

 cut the gut of my drop fly to about five inches long, well 

 wet the end, and tie a single knot in the extreme end. I 

 then take a single tie (the gut being still moist), the knot 

 being upwards or away from the knot on the cast line, and 

 draw the two tight over the dressed space above the knot, 

 and it will never slip ; at least I have never found it do so. 

 This knot is shown in Plate III. fig. 1, p. 95. If you 

 cannot open the knot with a pin point when you wish to 

 take the dropper off, just slip the knot off with a penknife, 

 and a pull will release the fly, while the loss of gut will 

 not be a quarter of an inch. Several knots may thus be 

 tied ; and before you get the gut too short for use, the fly 

 will probably be worn out. If you want to be very secure, 

 hold the knot against the knot in the cast line, the fly 

 pointing upwards and from it, and tie a single tie, and 

 then another, between the tie and the end knot, and it is 

 impossible to have any slip ; but in this instance you will 



