TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 9$ 



extending ends, A A, are turned inwards instead of outwards, 

 ?.nd are there held in their places by two strips of side webbing, 

 as shown in fig. i. The idea of this bag is not an original 

 one. Who was the first inventor thereof I do not know. 

 For the details of construction and waterproof arrangement I 

 might, however, possibly claim some credit, excepting that I 

 have already found my reward in the numberless wet-jackets 

 from which it has saved me. 



A very good-sized bag for the trout fisher is one foot four 

 inches in length by n or 12 inches in depth ; the extreme length 

 of the bag, with the side flaps extended, being about two feet 

 nine inches, which is large enough to carry a fifteen-pound 

 salmon or pike at a pinch. For salmon and pike fishing, how- 

 ever, a considerably larger size will be found more convenient. 

 The shoulder strap, or rather webbing, in the smaller size, 

 should be at least two inches wide, and in larger sizes two 

 and a half or three inches. The weight of the smaller sized 

 bag is one pound six ounces (or with the waterproof coat com- 

 plete 2 Ib. 12 oz.), and that of a basket, such as fig. 4, 3 Ibs. 



In deciding upon the question of bag or basket I personally 

 prefer the latter in every respect but one, and that is that when 

 you have caught nothing the latter conceals, whilst the former 

 exposes only too palpably, the nakedness of the land. To 

 gentlemen who are sensitive on this point I can only suggest a 

 plan adopted by an ingenious, I am afraid I cannot say inge- 

 nuous, friend, who on such occasions has been known to fill 

 the ' aching void ' by an adequate supply of lumps of turf or 

 brickbats ! 



Some fishermen consider that the ' appearance ' of the fish 

 is better preserved in a creel or basket, than in a bag in which 

 they are liable to be occasionally squashed or squeezed out of 

 shape. To such connoisseurs I commend one or other of the 

 following creels, also the outcome of the ' Fisheries,' or at leas'c 

 first then brought to my notice. 



Figs. 3 and 4 are diagrams of what is known as ' Hardy's 

 Carry-all Creel.' It is made, as will be observed, in two pieces 



