TOURNAMENT LINES 121 



shoot or strip in, for you cannot lift the line 

 if the belly runs off the rod. You measure, then, 

 from where you stand to the sixty-five-foot 

 mark, thus allowing ten feet on the safe side of 

 seventy-five feet. 



We will say that the leader is to be six feet 

 long, for a starter. Twenty-five feet is a good 

 length for the front taper. The proportions 

 are, then: 



Leader 6 feet 



Front taper 25 feet 



Belly 34 feet 



65 feet 



This is the key to an endless number of com- 

 binations that you may work out as you become 

 more proficient measure from where you stand 

 to the point where you can cast regularly. If 

 you increase the length of the taper, decrease 

 the length of the belly, and vice versa ; it being 

 understood, of course, that you will add to 

 the length of one or both as your skill is aug- 

 mented. But as thirty-five yards is a good 

 length, add forty feet of fine level line to your 

 casting line. 



If you know how long each taper of your 

 fishing line is, you will be able to splice a piece 

 on one end long enough to make that taper 

 twenty-five feet. If not, try a piece ten feet 



