32 



LANDING AND BAIT-'NETS, &C, 



good quality, and carefully used, will outlast anything of the 

 kind which can be procured. 



It is used singly, twisted, and plaitted for lines, leaders or 

 snells, for hooks. The smallest sizes are used for trout, and 

 the larger, when of superior quality, are highly esteemed 

 and in great demand for salmon or bass. 



Leaders are made from the above-mentioned article, 

 twisted horse-hair, and India grass, and should always be as 

 light as possible. 



LANDING AND BAIT-NETS, GAFF-HOOKS, AND 

 CLEARING-RINGS. 



In the pleasure of anticipation, the enthusiastic fisherman 

 is very apt to forget many little things which are very im- 

 portant items in the success of his day's sport ; among these 

 are the articles enumerated above. 



The Landing-Net in ordinary use is made of linen twine, 

 or fish-line, sixteen inches in diameter, and about two feet in 

 depth, with a mesh of three-eighths of an inch, and is at- 

 tached to a stout wire ring, of iron or brass. The latter ma- 

 terial is better adapted to the purpose, for the reason that it 

 does not corrode the net, whereas with almost every precau- 

 tion, the former cannot be prevented from acting on the 

 twine. The handle should be made of stout hickory or ash, 

 and not less than five feet in length. A very convenient form 

 of this net is now made, and which occupies about half the 

 space of the ordinary net. The ring or hoop is composed of 

 three joints or hinges, by which it is folded into a very port- 

 able shape. The handle to this contrivance, in order to carry 

 out the principles of its space-economizing inventor, is made 

 of three joints, which slide into each other like a telescope, 

 or, as Elaine, in his " Rural Sports," calls it, " a swallowed- 

 ur> handle." 



