70 Fly-rods and Fly-tackle. 



or never of use except for show? One thing, how- 

 ever, seems certain. If one must err in this respect, 

 it is far better to have the line too heavy than too 

 light. ^ 



But if the rod is stiff as fly-rods go, which is my own 

 personal preference, then a long-tapered D line is un- 

 questionably the thing. Of late years, my fishing has 

 been mainly from boat or canoe, in open water, exposed 

 to every wind that blows ; where, in order to get the 

 sun right, so that it should not cast a moving shadow 

 of my rod over the water to be fished, I was often com- 

 pelled to take the wind wrong. A heavy line, and a rod 

 with the power to handle it, is indispensable to pleasur- 

 able angling under such conditions. 



In 1884 I tried a D long-tapered line for some weeks 

 of constant daily fishing, expressly to test the compara- 

 tive merits of the heavier lines then coming into use. 

 The conclusions then formed for my own guidance, and 

 since confirmed during many outings from north of An- 

 ticosti Island on the St. Lawrence to Sitka in Alaska, 

 were as follows : On a flexible rod the D line seemed at 

 all times a positive disadvantage. Upon a ten-foot stiff 

 split-bamboo, against the wind, it worked well, since hav- 

 ing more momentum it naturally held its way better. 

 In casting over about forty -five feet it really worked 

 like a charm, the line seeming to go backward and for- 

 ward, as if it were alive and acting of its own volition, 

 rather than from the apparently insignificant impulse 

 given to the rod. This began to be felt at the distance 

 named, and increased rapidly as more line was used. In- 

 deed so pleasurable was it that I was forced continually 

 to check myself, lest I should fall into the altogether 

 too common error of ignoring good water close at hand, 



