TACKLE. 25 



candle to the brass around the swollen part, will so 

 contract it, by drawing out the wet, as to make the 

 farther unscrewing easy. This method will save many 

 an idle fretting, and prevent those hasty acts, whereby 

 good rods are often destroyed after the first services. 



Next, with regard to reels : They ought to be made 

 of brass, and, in our opinion, always simple. Some 

 anglers prefer the complex kind, by which the line is 

 wound up with much greater rapidity ; but to it our 

 objection lies chiefly in its tendency to become disor- 

 dered. As to the fastening of reels on the rod, every 

 man will exercise his taste in that matter. After all, 

 we ourselves are in no wise particular, either as to 

 rods or reels. The art lies more in the man than his 

 instrument. All the stores of tackle in the wide world, 

 gossamer gut as strong as whip-cord, flies the image of 

 life, and a rod that might throw them twenty fathoms' 

 distance, unless fitly managed, are no more likely to 

 ensnare trout, than an oak tree and a cable. 



And now, as to the rest of an angler's equipment. 

 Let him have a creel or basket of the usual shape, ra- 

 ther large than small. We hate to be seen with such 

 provoking baskets as hardly hold a dozen half-pound- 

 ers. Allow room at least for two stone weight of fish 

 and upwards. 



Lastly, let the angler carry a pocketbook for his 

 tackle, a round tin box for his casts, and a small flask 

 of spirits for his refreshment ; a gaff also, if he be a 

 salmon fisher, and a box for bait ; and as to the pocket- 

 book, let it be of a good breadth, so as not to compress 

 the gut-lines too narrowly. Parchment is the best 

 material, although leather is often in use ; twelve di- 

 visions or so are sufficient, with four pockets, in which 

 gut, silk, rosin, scissors, flynippers, hooks, swivels, 

 hare's ear, and feathers, may be placed. The more 



