324 SALMON AND TROUT. 



fully brazed to prevent swelling in the socket, and patent 

 ferrules to save the awkward process of lapping the joints 

 together, is a handy tool enough for practical purposes. On 

 a wet day it is a good precaution to rub a little oil or deer's 

 grease round the rim of each ferrule. 



As for the reel, good ones are now as plentiful as blackberries. 

 The circumference should be large and the barrel short, so that 

 a single turn may gather in or release many inches of line. 

 Multipliers might be pronounced an abomination, did not the 

 proverb forbid our speaking ill of the dead. Anglers generally 

 place the reel with the handle on the right, but I suspect the 

 opposite practice is preferable ; the control of the fish will thus 

 be left to the 'better hand,' while the left will suffice for ' pirn- 

 ing in ' and ' pirning out.' 



With regard to reel lines, I still adhere to the old silk and 

 hair, but I can well believe that oiled silk, sufficiently tapered^ is 

 better in a high wind. Its weight, moreover, is a constant 

 quantity, while that of silk and hair varies unpleasantly in rain 

 and towards what I heard a Lancashire keeper call * t' faag 

 eend o' t' dey.' 



As to the gut collar, the question of * tapering ' is yet more 

 important ; in fact, perfection in casting cannot be attained un- 

 less this be ' fine by degrees and beautifully less.' 1 have 

 never bought any as perfectly adjusted as those I have tied for 

 myself. But the graduated arrangement of the links is delicate 

 and laborious work — more trying, I think, to the sight than even 

 the dressing of flies, and the difficulty of the task of course in- 

 creases with years. It is a good plan to have the gut sorted 

 beforehand into distinct sizes — thick, medium, fine, and finest — 

 and to tie a good many collars at one sitting when your eye 

 and hand are in. Be very careful with your knots, and never 

 attempt to make one till the gut has been thoroughly soaked in 

 tepid water. Pay a high price for the best gut, particularly for 

 picked samples of the finest. Engine-drawn gut is generally 

 worthless ; single hair is far preferable — indeed, were not the 

 docking of horses so universal, it might be often used with 



