146 AN ANGLER'S HOURS ix 



one of them is taken by a fish under the 

 opposite bank, probably a dace, for it rose 

 with much fuss and splash. It is time to 

 put up the rod. 



We use no cobweb and gossamer tackle 

 here ; we have to be able to throw a long 

 line, and must be ready for big fish. And 

 so the split-cane rod is a powerful weapon, 

 the reel-line is heavy, and the cast tapers 

 only to the " finest undrawn," as the cata- 

 logues have it, to the uninitiated rather 

 mysteriously perhaps. " Drawn " gut is 

 gut which has been passed through steel 

 plates, filed down, as it were, until it has 

 lost its original stoutness. It can be made 

 extremely fine by the process, but naturally 

 it loses most of its strength. Undrawn gut 

 is three times as strong as drawn gut of the 

 same thickness. The reel -line has been 

 carefully rubbed with a preparation to make 

 it float, and the cast has been in the damp- 

 ing-box all the morning, so all we have to 

 do is to put on a fly and we are ready. The 

 fly-box is filled with marvellous patterns of 

 the drake, with wings of all sizes and 

 colours. The collection has accumulated 

 for years, but we do not really need more 



