128 Fly-rods and Fly-tackle. 



leaders were produced with a grand flourish before the 

 other anglers then present, and their supposed merits 

 were expatiated upon. From hand to hand they passed, 

 the length and the roundness of the strands, and their 

 uniform and delicate color, eliciting universal admiration. 

 It then occurred to me that they had not been tested; and 

 this, acting on principle, and not because I entertained 

 the most remote suspicion of their strength, I proceeded 

 to do. We have the best of authority that " pride goeth 

 before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall," and 

 so it was in this case. The gut before dyeing showed an 

 average breaking strain of eight pounds, and guided by 

 the tests then made, not the slightest doubt was enter- 

 tained that the leaders made from it, after dyeing, would 

 stand six pounds at least; but the protracted exposure 

 to heat had rotted them throughout, and they broke 

 again and again at two pounds, and less. It may easily 

 be imagined that so little wool after so great a cry was 

 sufficiently humiliating; but at the same time the cloud 

 had its silver lining, though invisible until its shadow had 

 passed. I then learned the lessons which it is the pur- 

 pose of these incidents to impress keep your gut from 

 hot water except in dyeing, and then let the exposure 

 be as brief as possible; and never use an untested leader, 

 no matter how great your confidence in its strength 

 may be. 



The strain imposed upon a leader by even the largest 

 trout is generally greatly over-estimated. A leader that 

 will endure five pounds steady strain with a spring-bal- 

 ance will, when backed by the elasticity of a fair rod, re- 

 sist the utmost effort of the largest trout that swims the 

 Rangely Lakes. I doubt whether the largest of them on a 

 steady strain can pull one pound in still water; though of 



