HINTS. FOR BEGINNERS. 9 



holiday. All I can say is that if any man 

 loses as many fish as I have through hasty or 

 bad principled knots he has my sympathy. To 

 tie neat knots with the ends closely snipped 

 off so that the whole cast runs through the palm 

 of the hand without catching in each bit of 

 rough skin constitutes a charm which always 

 stands one in good stead. Even with fish rising 

 around one and with only half-an-hour between 

 you and the last light it is seldom wise to 

 hurry in the making of any knot. 



Fliies are not easy to thread in the dusk and 

 consequently it is as well to have fully half-a- 

 dozen ready done and kept for emergencies 

 either in a damp box or far better in the 

 damped underflap of a Burberry hat. In case of 

 necessity for replacing a lost or unsuccessful fly 

 it is easy enough to tie an ordinary double 

 water knot in the dark. And I would like just 

 here to refer to that very common accident of 

 finding the barb of the hook gone an accident 

 probably caused by the fly touching or catching 

 in a grass stalk while extended over the meadow 

 behind one. For a long time I supposed it 

 invariably broke off in a river stake or in the 

 jaw of a lost fish, but now am convinced to the 

 contrary and believe that twice out of three 

 times the barb has gone a cast or two before 

 the one which succeeded in rising and hooking 

 for one struggling moment that fish which you 

 are sure during the lonely walk home was by 

 far the heaviest you touched all day. So 

 important is this barb business that a small 



