MAKING TACKLE 25 



a keen professional eye that no improvement can 

 escape them. 



There are many establishments in London, and even 

 in provincial towns of any considerable magnitude, 

 where every description of fly, every kind of line, and 

 all the various patterns and sizes of hooks, floats, rods, 

 etc., can be found, and at a price, too, which none but 

 those who manufacture extensively for wholesale 

 purposes can produce them at ; and where every con- 

 trivance for taking fish and securing them may be 

 purchased as good as the best materials and workman- 

 ship can procure. "Where, then," it is asked, "are 

 the inducements for making our own 1 " None but the 

 distance a man may be from a tackle-warehouse when 

 he wants it ; and considering that most things may be 

 transmitted in a single post, there can be very little 

 inducement under any circumstances. Our advice is, 

 that persons at a distance from London or country 

 tackle-shops should lay in a plentiful stock of those 

 articles which take but little room, and cost but little 

 money. Gut and hair hooks, flies of all kinds, floats, 

 two, three, or four yards lengths of gut, which are 

 always kept in readiness regularly tapered, the 

 heaviest being at the upper end, and each link 

 gradually diminishing, some very strong and others 

 light, a clearing ring, and other smaller matters of this 

 kind. 



The lovers of angling may take our word that, 

 however wise it may be to repair accidents, and re-whip 

 a hook occasionally, it is better to be provided with 

 everything ready for use. Every leisure day at home 

 these things should be examined, and whatever runs 

 short should be ordered at once. It is bad policy, or 

 no policy, to be short of anything, and particularly of 

 what cannot be procured without delay. 



So much for the cause of the fishing-tackle shops. 

 We are anxious that the fullest knowledge on the 

 subject should be generally known among anglers, and 

 this is our chief reason for submitting these statements 

 without note or comment. 



