22 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 
aluminium bronze is infinitely to be preferred, for it does 
not corrode or discolor with the action of the atmosphere, 
and it is less liable to suffer from a blow or fall; mis- 
chances that the fiy-fisher’s paraphernalia, more particular- 
ly in a rocky, mountainous country, are especially liable to, 
when following the course of a trout brook, for stones will 
be slippery and fishermen have been known to take too 
much grog. Who among our expert salmon trout fisher- 
men can not remember having obtained a frightful cropper 
when precipitously following up or down stream a heavy 
fish he was fast to? I do not require to tax my memory 
greatly to recall half a dozen such casualties. There are 
various methods of attaching the reel to the rod. Of none 
do I approve so highly as that by which the reel is held 
fast in a shallow indentation by a movable band. In those 
cases where the butt is pierced, or the reel held on the rod 
by a brass band attached to it, which closes with a screw, 
the nuts are constantly getting lost or loose, through the 
thread being worn out; moreover, the hand not unfrequent- 
ly gets chafed by coming in contact with the edges or ter- 
mination of the screw. 
On the subject of fly-lines there is great diversity of 
opinion. Of whatever materials they are composed they 
should taper. Hair and silk I was at one time much in 
favor of; but after a lengthened trial I found one great ob- 
jection — the two materials had not the same amount of 
elasticity, so that a heavy strain would bear more severely 
on one material than on the other, ultimately causing brit- 
tleness. A plaited silk line, which has been submitted to a 
process of varnishing, rendering it impervious to water, 
will, I think, do the greatest amount of work, and throw 
the greatest length of line; but for delicate, light, fine fish- 
ing, nothing I know of can surpass the old-fashioned line, 
composed entirely of horse-hair; for they are possessed of 
