184 



CHAPTER XV. 



FISHING FOR THE SALMON FAMILY. 



Flt Fishing.— Casting the fly is essentially the same 

 sort of art, whether it is cast for salmon or for trout, and 

 is the highest dev^elopment of the angler's skill. It is no 

 more difficult, perhaps, than casting the bass bait ; but 

 the delicacy of rod, line and fly required, place it at the 

 head ot all kinds of angling. In salmon fishing a two- 

 handed rod of some twenty ounces weight is used, with 

 one hundred yards of line, a stout single gut leader, and 

 a large fly. In trout tishing a single-handed rod of ten 

 to fourteen ounces, a leader of the most delicate gut, ten 

 feet long, and never over eleven, and three small flies, 

 are the proper implements. But the motion and method 

 of casting the fly are in both instances essentially the 

 same; and the man who can wield the pliant trout rod 

 deftly, will in a few hours' practice master the stouter 

 and more powerful salmon rod. 



There are all sorts of fly rods manufactured, and each 

 sort has its advocates. There is the stiff elastic rod, 

 made of cedar or bamboo ; the double action, made of 

 ironwood and greenheart, and the tough, slow rod, 

 made of ash, spruce, or hickory. The first is suited to 

 the man of quick eye and hand, impatient of the slower 

 motions of the others ; the second is adapted to the de- 

 liberate fisherman, who goes on the plan that fish hook 

 themselves ; and the third is suited to the careless man, 

 who will never acquire the higher development of his 

 art, but wants something strong, that will not smash up 

 on the first pound fish that startles him with its unex- 

 pected rise, and which he strikes " with all his might," 



