76 THE TROUT. 



which you are by a loop to attach your bottom tackle. This 

 should be made of round, even gut, and three yards long ; 

 some persons prefer four yards; but I think too great a 

 length of gut increases the difficulty in casting the line. 

 These lines should also taper gradually, the gut being much 

 stronger at the end which is to be attached to the line on the 

 reel, than at the end to which the stretcher fly is to be fixed. 

 When you fish with only two flies, the second (or drop fly) 

 should be at a distance of 36 or 40 inches from the bottom or 

 stretcher fly ; but if you use three flies, the first drop should 

 be only 34 inches from the stretcher, and the second 30 

 inches from the first. These drop flies are attached to the 

 line by loops, and should not be more than three inches long; 

 and by having the gut rather stronger than for the end fly, 

 they will stand nearly at a right angle from the line. I re- 

 commend the beginner to commence with one fly only ; but 

 at most he must not use more than two ; and, as for his mode 

 of casting or throwing his fly, now his tackle is prepared, I 

 fear little useful instruction can be given, as skill and dexterity, 

 in this point, must depend upon practice. I may, however, 

 advise him not to attempt to cast a long line at first, but to 

 try his strength and gain facility by degrees. He must make 

 up his mind to hear many a crack, like a coachman's whip, 

 and find the consequent loss of his flies before he can direct 

 his stretcher to a given point, and let it fall on the water as 

 light as a gossamer." 



Cotton says : " For 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 is 

 commonly enough; and longer, though never so neatly and 

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

 and if otherwise, where lies the sport ? The length of 

 your line, to a man that knows how to handle his rod and to 

 cast it is no matter of encumbrance, except in woody places, 



