386 THE COMPLETE ANGLEll. [PART II. 



and will conceal nothing from you. But I mast now come 

 to the second way of angling at the top, which is with an 

 artificial-fly, which also I will show you how to make before 

 I have done : but first shall acquaint you, that with this 

 you are to angle with a line longer, by a yard and a half, or 

 sometimes two yards, than your rod : and with both this, 

 and the other, in a still day, in the streams, in a breeze that 

 curls the water in the still-deeps, where (excepting in May 

 and June, that the best trouts will lie in shallow streams to 

 watch for prey, and even then too) you are like to hit the 

 best fish. 



Por the length of your rod, you are always to be governed 

 by the breadth of the river you shall choose to angle at : 

 and for a trout-river, one of five or six yards long is com- 

 monly enough ; and longer, though never so neatly and arti- 

 ficially made, it ought not to be, if you intend to fish at 

 ease ; and if otherwise, where lies the sport ? 



Of these, the best that ever I saw are made in Yorkshire, 

 which are all of one piece : that is to say of several, six, eight, 

 ten, or twelve pieces, so neatly pieced, and tied together with 

 fine thread below, and silk above, as to make it taper, like a 

 switch, and to ply with a true bent to your hand. And 

 these, too, are light, being made of fir- wood for two or three 

 lengths nearest to the hand, and of other wood nearer to 

 the top ; that a man might very easily manage the longest of 

 them that ever I saw, with one hand. And these, when 

 you have given over angling for a season, being taken to 

 pieces, and laid up in some dry place, may afterwards be set 

 together again in their former postures, and will be as 

 straight, sound, and good, as the first hour they were made ; 

 and being laid in oil and colour, according to your Master 

 "Walton's direction, will last many years. 1 



The length of your line, to a man that knows how to 

 handle his rod, and to cast it, is no manner of encumbrance, 

 excepting in woody places and in landing of a fish, which 

 every one that can afford to angle for pleasure, has somebody 

 to do for him. And the length of line is a mighty advantage 



i Many good rods have been mined by not being properly cared for during 

 the winter. A room heated by a stove is a bad place to lay them up in, heat 

 being more hurtful even than damp, warping the wood and starting the 

 ferules. Am. Ed, (See Note on this subject at page 326.) 



