QUALITIES OF THE LINE. 293 



days the true time when it was " never too late to mend" have gone like 

 the May pole and the dancing on the village green. Long since that 

 innocent era Salmon have been taught to better use their eyes and other 

 organs. Their constantly declining to follow flies across the water, as they 

 did, is a fact that has forced itself upon our recognition ; and driven us to 

 prepare for this and other propensities which originate in that " thinking 

 apparatus " of theirs. 



The question therefore arises: Can we properly "mend" our cast 

 with the line of the period ? No, but out of this evil, good has come, for 

 our amicable conflict with these difficulties has obliged us to consider the 

 matter of lines in all their varied uses and relations, and our investigations 

 have turned out fruitful in precious results. We were not long in finding 

 out that a line should be possessed of certain qualities, and, that those 

 lines commonly used failed us in respect of pliability as well as in 

 weight unless possessing an outrageous amount of bulk. 



The essential qualities which stamp a good line are four in number 

 Compactness, Suppleness, Evenness, and Durability. 



Our list of demands may appear somewhat formidable, but it is 

 impossible to charge a single item with superfluity. No practical Angler 

 will question the signal merit of a line possessing these valuable 

 characteristics. Strength, though generally regarded as being of material 

 importance, is not included in our list. Personally I have always looked 

 upon this quality with indifference, from the fact that even the thin end 

 of the taper of a line, fit for use, stands a far heavier strain than the gut 

 attached to it. 



In my report, as one of the Judges of the Fisheries Exhibition of 1883 

 (see Field, 27th October, 1883), I made the following observations : 



" In judging, the lines were tied to a steelyard. The highest " pull " was 

 59 Ibs., the lowest 21 Ibs. After many years practical experience, and, having for 

 the sake of experiment made various lines myself, I am convinced that a tightly 

 plaited line is by far the best for fishing purposes. Yet a tight plait under the 

 weight test would pull considerably less than one loosely plaited made of exactly 

 the same quantity and of the same length. . . . There is greater weight 



in it for the same circumference of loose plait I am fortified 



in this opinion by the entire concurrence of the leading manufacturers in the 

 trade." 



