"The Anglers Equipment" 163 



all that there is to know about fly-fishing 

 in a few hours will find that he is mistaken. 

 It is quite astonishing what fine gut an 

 expert can throw against the wind, provided 

 that he has a strong wrist, and is free from 

 rheumatism ; for rheumatism makes the 

 strongest wrist useless while the attack lasts : 

 a thing that many an old fisherman finds out 

 to his cost. 



FISHING-BASKETS. 



They are broadly of two kinds, French 

 and the English. I prefer the French, and 

 I always use it. There are two great faults 

 with all wicker fishing-baskets, and the first 

 is this. If you are fishing in a very keen 

 and drying wind and have only taken a 

 few trout ; still worse if you have caught 

 but one or two very fine specimen fish, it is 

 surely very aggravating to find them, at the 

 end of the day, withered and robbed of 

 their beautiful colours, the tail and the fins 

 being especially ruined, and past all hope 

 of setting up satisfactorily. To obviate all 

 this, I many years ago, devised the following 

 plan. 



Just inside the creel, and near to the top, 

 I take a piece of an ordinary penny cane, or, 



