THE RUNNING LINE. 149 



most likely find it necessary to cut the whole of the tie off, 

 and will lose more than half an inch of gut. Where the 

 droppers are not required to be removed, I have seen the 

 flies dressed upon long strands of gut, and the gut tied into 

 the casting line as a part of it some four inches above the 

 fly, but I do not like the plan. Some persons, again, adopt 

 the plan of forming a slip loop in the casting line, by tying 

 each end of a strand round the gut of the other strand, 

 slipping the knotted end of the dropper between, and then 

 drawing the knots home tightly, as shown in Plate III. 

 fig. 2, p. 95 ; but this is troublesome to open, it frays the 

 gut at a critical point, and is not to my mind the most 

 secure way of putting on a dropper. 



The running or reel line should be of hair and silk 

 mixed. Some anglers prefer plaited dressed silk, but I do 

 not like such lines for single-hand rods ; they want light- 

 ness and elasticity. Some, again, say that they should be 

 all hair, but this is as bad as the other, as a hair line is 

 apt to kink and hang in the rings. Some aver that silk 

 and hair do not mix well that one gives while the other 

 does not, and so forth. I have occasionally in plaited lines 

 found, after a heavy strain caused by the hanging up of a 

 fly in some distant obstruction, and the strong pull required 

 to loosen it, that strands of hair have broken into minute 

 particles ; but I am inclined to think that the hair used 

 in such cases was not at first of the best quality. I think 

 there is greater ease and comfort in fishing with a plaited, 

 tapered, mixed line, well made and of good material, than 

 with either of the others. The line should be bought to 

 suit the rod ; and here is a point anglers frequently lose 

 sight of, though it is of great importance. Thirty or 

 forty yards of trout line that is what they require. It 

 may be tolerably fine, or very fine, or perhaps moderately 

 .stout. Now it may chance that the rod will not throw 

 a very fine line, being somewhat stiff, and then ensues a 



