SALMON KODS, LINES, AND FLIES. 315 



each end, and should be from 100 to 120 yards 

 long. Your casting line should be of single gut, 

 clear and round. The colour of your casting 

 line should depend on the state of the river. If 

 the water be moss- stained, your gut may be very 

 faintly tinged of the same colour, very faintly 

 indeed, as all dyes are over-done, but if the river 

 be clear, do not, on any account, stain your gut 

 at all. Whatever you do, have nothing to say to 

 multiplying reels ; they are apt to betray you in 

 the hour of need. A large London made plain stop 

 reel, with a thick winding cylinder, is the best. 



With respect to salmon-flies, Mr. Scrope truly 

 says, " Now, as there is no month in the year 

 when salmon-flies are made by nature, so no dis- 

 tinction of species need be observed. My rule 

 has been to adapt my fly, both as to colour and 

 size, to the state of the water ; a large fly, with 

 sober colours, for deep and clear water, and a 

 smaller one, equally unassuming, where it is 

 shallower ; in the throat of the cast, (head of the 

 stream,) and as long as it continues rough, a large 

 fly also ; at the tail of it, where the water runs 

 more quietly and evenly, a smaller fly serves the 

 purpose best. Thus you should change your fly 

 in every stream once or twice. A large and 

 rather gaudy fly is preferable when the river is 

 full and discoloured, that the salmon, which lie 



