22 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 



aluminium bronze is infinitely to be preferred, for it does 

 not corrode or discolor with the action of the atmosphere, 

 and it is less liable to suffer from a blow or fall; mis- 

 chances that the fly-fisher's paraphernalia, more particular- 

 ly in a rocky, mountainous country, are especially liable to, 

 when following the course of a trout brook, for stones will 

 be slippery and fishermen have been known to take too 

 much grog. Who among our expert salmon trout fisher- 

 men can not remember having obtained a frightful cropper 

 when precipitously following up or down stream a heavy 

 fish he was fast to ? I do not require to tax my memory 

 greatly to recall half a dozen such casualties. There are 

 various methods of attaching the reel to the rod. Of none 

 do I approve so highly as that by which the reel is held 

 fast in a shallow indentation by a movable band. In those 

 cases where the butt is pierced, or the reel held on the rod 

 by a brass band attached to it, which closes with a screw, 

 the nuts are constantly getting lost or loose, through the 

 thread being worn out ; moreover, the hand not unf requent- 

 ly gets chafed by coming in contact with the edges or ter- 

 mination of the screw. 



On the subject of fly-lines there is great diversity of 

 opinion. Of whatever materials they are composed they 

 should taper. Hair and silk I was at one time much in 

 favor of ; but after a lengthened trial I found one great ob- 

 jection the two materials had not the same amount of 

 elasticity, so that a heavy strain would bear more severely 

 on one material than on the other, ultimately causing brit- 

 tleness. A plaited silk line, which has been submitted to a 

 process of varnishing, rendering it impervious to water, 

 will, I think, do the greatest amount of work, and throw 

 the greatest length of line ; but for delicate, light, fine fish- 

 ing, nothing I know of can surpass the old-fashioned line, 

 composed entirely of horse-hair ; for they are possessed of 



