BLANKS AND TROUBLES 189 
cottage hard by, thinking he might perhaps have 
the good fortune to borrow one, else would his 
day’s fishing be lost. The water-bailiff was in. 
“Qh, yes,” said he, “I can lend you a reel, and 
a line on it, with pleasure ; in fact, I always keep 
a spare one by me for you gentlemen who leave 
your own behind. It’s surprising the number 
who come to borrow it, and” (he added diplo- 
matically) “they always return it to me.” 
Various devices are employed to ensure not 
forgetting things, I wish it were possible, in 
buying a reel, to make a point with the tackle- 
merchant that the article purchased shall be one 
that will never leave itself behind. I like to put 
my reel into my fishing bag, and to keep it there 
when not in use. Then it is always there. The 
danger, of course, is when you are cleaning and 
oiling it overnight, or if you have run off line to 
dry. In either case, when the job is done, the 
wise procedure is to put the reel back at once 
into the fishing bag, which one should habitually 
have handy. ‘To extract the reel from the bag in 
the hall, and to leave the bag there, while the 
reel is placed on the mantelpiece in the smoking- 
room, perhaps some distance away, is fatal. Some 
fishermen, before starting out in the morning, 
catechise themselves thus : 
HaveI my . . Rod? 
HaveI my . . Reel and line? 
HaveI my . . Cast box, with cast or casts, 
and damping pads? 
HaveI my . . Fly case and flies? 
