DISADVANTAGES OF A LONG LINE. 107 



answer the purpose. The disadvantages of a long 

 line are, that too much of it touches the water, and 

 that it is impossible to throw it as it should be 

 done, making the flies light first. It is also very 

 difficult to throw it to any desired spot with cer- 

 tainty to cast it neatly behind a stone or under 

 a bank ; besides which, more time is necessary to 

 throw it, thus wasting that valuable commodity. 

 The greatest objection to it, however, is its disadvan- 

 tages in striking a trout ; a long line lies curved in 

 the water, and when the angler strikes, it is some 

 time before the flies move ; the line, in fact, requires 

 to be straightened first. When they do move,, it 

 is slowly and without force, and there is little 

 chance of hooking the trout. It is very different 

 with a short line ; in this case the line is almost 

 straight from the point of the rod to the flies, and 

 the least motion of the hand moves the latter im- 

 mediately. "We advise the angler who is using a 

 long line, and raising but not hooking a number of 

 trout, to shorten his line, and he will at once be 

 struck with the difference. We have invariably 

 found that the nearer we are to our flies the better 

 we can use them, and the greater is our chance of 

 hooking a trout when it rises. 



The advantages of the second part of the maxim 

 to throw a light line it is impossible to over-esti- 

 mate. The moment the flies light being the only 

 one in which trout take the artificial fly for a live 

 one is the most deadly in the whole cast, and 



