176 Wet- Fly Fishing 



and basket the trout fettered by rod and 

 landing-net the while. 



" Now, I conceived a very simple plan 

 remedying all this in 1877, 1 had a harness- 

 ring sewn on my basket, and passed the 

 landing-net handle through this, working 

 my landing-net almost entirely from this 

 ring. It did admirably; but I found that 

 the handle was apt to get between my legs. 

 By degrees I adopted three rings two for 

 'carrying' the landing - net,, and one for 

 ' working ' the net from, when I am wading ; 

 and, further, I now have a strap, which I 

 find an invaluable auxiliary. 



' ' There is a tendency for the ring and 

 handle to become unscrewed, while one is 

 carrying the landing-net attached to the 

 basket ; and I have often had to walk back 

 half a mile or so, only to find my net and 

 handle lying quite close to each other. To 

 avoid all this, I first screw the ring of the 

 net into the brass socket of the handle; 

 and then, when it is firmly home, I have 

 a hole drilled through both. My next step 

 is to form a 'thread* for the reception of 

 an ordinary screw-nail. This makes every- 

 thing secure. You can thus fish for any 

 length of time without any risk of the net 

 becoming detached from the handle; and 



