MAKING TACKLE. 15 



London trade, in all the materials connected with the piscatory 

 art, is so wonderfully extended, and has now such a general and 

 easy mode of transacting business in country districts, that it has 

 become a matter of pure prudence and economy whether it is not 

 better to buy than to make one's fishing outfit. It is now argued 

 and argued fairly and rationally that the perfection to which 

 the London tackle-making trade has brought everything they 

 manufacture, and the low prices at which they are disposed of, 

 forbid every man whose time is worth anything, from wasting it 

 on making his own implements of fishing. If all the materials he 

 requires were purchased with a view of making, instead of buy- 

 ing, fishing tackle, the maker would find the cost much heavier 

 than it would be worth after it was used up, and made : without 

 taking into consideration that there could not be that skill, neat- 

 ness, delicacy, and soundness, which the tackle-makers of the 

 present day guarantee in every article they send out of their 

 premises. The waste of time is saved by judicious purchases, and 

 one can scarcely hesitate to pronounce that the best home-made 

 rod that was ever made was vastly inferior to those manufactured 

 by first-rate workmen in the craft, wno have made the profession 

 their study, and worked at it all their > lives. Such persons 

 become possessed, of such a keen professional eye, that no im- 

 provement can escape them. There are many establishments in 

 London, and even in provincial towns of any considerable magni- 

 tude, where every description of fly, every kind of line, and all the 

 various patterns and sizes of hooks, floats, rods, &c., can be 

 found, ^and at a price, too, which none but those who manufacture 

 extensively for wholesale purposes can produce them at; and 

 where every contrivance for taking fish and securing them may be 

 purchased as good as the best materials and workmanship can 

 procure. " Where, then," it is asked, " are the inducements for 

 making our own ?" None but the distance a man may be from a 

 tackle-warehouse when he wants it ; and considering that most 

 things may be transmitted in a single post, there can be very little 

 inducement under any circumstances. Our advice is, that persons 

 at a distance from London or country tackle-shops, should lay in a 

 plentiful stock of those articles which take but little room, and 

 cost but little money. Gut and hair hooks, flies of all kinds, 

 floats, two, three, or four yards lengths of gut, which are always 

 kept in readiness regularly tapered, the heaviest being at the upper 

 end, and each link gradually diminishing, some very strong and 

 others lis;ht, a clearing ring, and other smaller matters of this 

 kind.^ The lovers of angling may take our word that, however 

 wise it may be to repair accidents, and re-whip a hook occasionally, 

 it is better to be provided with every tiling ready for use. Every 

 leisure day at home these things should be examined, and what- 

 ever runs short should be ordered at once. It is bad policy, or no 

 policy, to be short of any thing, and particularly of what cannot be 

 procured without delay." 



