Lines. 6? 



away, but still seem too good to throw in the fire where 

 they properly belong. 



There is great temptation to economy in the purchase 

 of lines. Plenty that look equally well can be had at 

 half price. But you know the consequences of yielding 

 to temptation, and believe me, this will not prove the 

 exception which makes the rule. A little cold common- 

 sense will teach that, in this benighted age and country, 

 no man sells an article in the regular way of trade for 

 two or three cents a yard, the market value of which is 

 seven or eight. But if economy is not an object, then 

 a tapered line is to be preferred, in my judgment. But 

 it should be tapered at both ends, so that when one 

 taper is gone the line can be turned end for end and the 

 other taper used, thus giving the line double life. 



Again, there is the short taper of five or six feet or 

 less, and the long taper of eighteen or twenty or more 

 feet. For one who rarely casts over forty feet, the 

 short taper is, at the start, quite as good, if not better, 

 than the long. But one long tapered line will outlast 

 two or more short tapered that is, the long tapered 

 line can afford to lose twelve or thirteen feet of the 

 taper quite as well as the short tapered line can afford 

 to lose three or four feet. 



The question of size remains to be discussed. The 

 controlling factor which governs the answer is the flexi- 

 bility of the rod. To obtain the best results, the line 

 must fit the rod as a coat fits a well-dressed man's back. 

 Unless the flexibility of the rod be first known, it is as 

 impossible to say what sized line is best suited to it as 

 to say what sized coat will fit a man without knowing 

 whether he is tall or short, fat or thin. 



The line must have weight enough to bring out the 



