ODDS AND ENDS 295 



them to links one grade stronger than the end of 

 the cast, as it makes them stand out better and 

 there are less tangles. 



The only special point about dry-fly casts, in 

 which my practice seems to differ from that of other 

 anglers whom I meet, is that in calm weather or 

 following winds I use a length which some of them 

 seem to think excessive, eleven or even twelve 

 feet. F. M. Halford recommended this to me as a 

 remedy for cracking- off flies and an aid to delivering 

 them without a bang, and I have found it so helpful 

 that I possibly now carry the plan to extremes. 

 I must own to having sometimes had difficulties in 

 landing trout when a twelve -foot cast has been 

 associated with a nine-foot rod. 



Of the many " tips " which the years have 

 brought to me from one source or another I think 

 the discovery of Amadou, that admirable fungus, 

 is one of the best. The most ingenious fisherman, 

 the late Mr. Basil Field, first gave me a small piece 

 of Amadou, but he did not tell me what it was. 

 I got the impression that it was some very scarce 

 and precious material from France. My little 

 piece was worn out in a short time and I mourned 

 it sincerely for some years. Then one day another 

 most ingenious fisherman, Dr. W. J. Turrell, the 

 authority on old angling authors, led me into a 

 chemist's shop in Oxford and revealed to me great 



