50 SALMON AND TROUT. 



Then comes the question : Shall the dressed silk line be 

 level' that is, of equal substance throughout or 'tapered,' 

 which means in ordinary parlance, getting finer towards the end 

 at which the casting line is to be attached ? The latter is some- 

 times what is called ' double tapered,' that is, the line is tapered 

 at both ends or it may be only a 'single taper,' when, of 

 course, the taper is made at one end only. As between level 

 and tapered lines, each has its advantages and its disadvantages, 

 but, on the whole, I think nine fly fishers out of ten prefer, in 

 practice, a line more or less tapered towards the casting end. 



So far as the actual casting is concerned, apart from ' fine 

 fishing,' these details are of little importance on quiet days, but 

 in rough stormy weather, when the wind is blowing half a gale, 

 perhaps right in the fly fisher's teeth, the case is radically 

 altered, and the man whose line is properly balanced and heavy 

 enough to cut through the air like a bit of wire will be able to 

 go on casting with comparative efficiency, while his neighbour, 

 less perfectly equipped, will find his flies blown back in his face 

 every other cast. 



I have had some lines manufactured with the design of 

 obtaining still greater casting power under such circumstances, 

 and I think the experiment has been sufficiently successful to 

 justify me in recommending fly fishers, and salmon fishers espe- 

 cially, to give it a trial. The principle is to ' swell,' or double 

 taper, each end of the casting line at a point so near the end 

 that the whole of the ' swell ' or double taper shall usually be 

 betiveen the point of the rod and the fly when a cast is being 

 made. This sort of swelled taper, or whip-shaped line, is, of 

 course, made at both ends of the reel line, so that when one 

 end gets worn out the line can be reversed and the other used. 

 In practical experiments carried out with this and other lines, 

 with different rods, both trout and salmon, and under different 

 circumstances, I found that there was no appreciable difference 

 in calm weather, but that when casting across, or, still more, 

 against, a sharp wind, the 'swelled' line went out decidedly 

 straighter and more easily. 



