PRACTICAL LESSONS IN THE GENTLE CRAFT. 469 



any one who has either lost, or who can imagine for one 

 moment the diabolical and horrific grief and misery of losing, 

 a good trout by such an unlooked-for and apparently 

 impossible contingency. 



In weir spinning the condition of things is altogether 

 different. Here, not only is it sometimes necessary to fish at 

 a considerable distance below one's standpoint, but a very 

 large scope of water, every inch of it looking capable and 

 likely ground, has to be covered. For this, therefore, give 

 me a sixteen foot rod, pliable and springy, so that by the 

 mere motion of the top joint alone I can keep my bait 

 revolving smartly without taking up more than an inch or 

 two at a time of the line. 



Traces, flights and baits should have each a separate 

 place. In connection with the first and second of these, two 

 very necessary items, the greatest possible care should be 

 used in the matter of their selection, for it is mainly upon 

 their delicacy, accurate work, and powers of successful 

 resistance to the plunging of a big and powerful fish, that 

 the issue of the battle lies. Colour, likewise, is a great 

 point, therefore principally choose, for trout spinning at 'any 

 rate, gut of a pale smoky blue-green, if such a colour exists, a 

 matter I am by no means certain about, and next see that 

 it is correct and clear to the eye, free from white specks, or 

 from knotty excrescences to the touch. Then if you have 

 sufficient ability, and will take my advice, make your traces 

 yourself. If not, you will not be far out by leaving them in 

 the hands of such men as Alfred, Farlow, or Gowland. 



But in their manufacture, whether it may be done at 

 home or abroad, either carry out, or leave, positive instruc- 

 tions, that from top to bottom of the trace there shall not be 

 one atom of binding in it. It is this very thing that in nine 

 cases out of ten has been responsible for the loss of a good 



