In America
especially, the reel is an affair of complicated and delicate works, very beautiful to look at, delightful to use, so long as its intricate parts act smoothly as per design. But in angling it is a wise maxim that the simplest is the best, and that all inventions should be avoided which increase the risks of disaster when the angler NOTTINGHAM PAST AND PRESENT. is at the waterside far from means of repairing mechanical break-downs. These exquisite novelties will never lack customers; but most men, having given the patented and registered reels a trial, are content to return to the well-made hard-metal winches, with their serviceable check. The multiplying arrangement of the last generation has been discarded, and the tendency of the moment is towards the winches which are a compromise between the check pure and simple, and the absolutely unchecked Nottingham reel. The salmon-winch, for example, that will be required in a strong water where the fish run large, and where the stoutest of salmon-gut is necessary, will need a strong check action that will tell upon a running salmon without application of the hand to the line. When the streams are shrunken and clear, and the size of the fly has to be reduced to sea-trout size, with a corresponding change from the stoutest to medium gut, the check should be less obdurate. To meet these divers conditions, reels have been furnished with the means of regulating the revolutions of the free runners. The most recent of these is a clever invention whereby the angler, by putting his thumb upon the rim, can reduce the speed of the wheel almost to stoppage point. Reels are made of bronze, brass, gun- and other metals; of wood with light metal protections, and of ebonite. The reel should be, above all things, of the best quality, for it is the gear upon which dependence is direct in critical times. Rod, line, and fish are each and all in danger with an inferior winch.
Lines. In lines, again, the whims and fancies of anglers are encouraged by the makers; the main considerations after the matter of strength-are the weight of the line as adapted to the rod, and the best of dressings. For casting there was nothing better than the silk and hair formerly used by flyfishers, but they were liable to hold the wet. to perish prematurely, and to play unpleasant tricks when least expected.
Dressed silk lines are in these days thoroughly prepared by scientific methods. It is questionable whether a tapered line is, in the long run, preferable in salmon fishing to one of even substance. A salmonline should be about 120 yards long, though it is seldom during a lifetime that 100 yards TAPERED LINE. [ANGLING safety; and as they are often required to land trout of two and three pounds, the temper of the steel must be beyond suspicion. Individual fancy, here, as in other necessaries for a fisherman's outfit, will rule the choice of hooks, to which experts like Mr. Cholmondeley-Pennell have devoted the study of a life-time. Upon the question of hooks, however, anglers are apt to be particularly faddy. will not suffice. There is an element of excitement, no doubt, in the narrative one occasionally reads of a gallant fish taking 100 yards of line out at a gallop, but, with proper handling of the rod, such an occurrence seldom happens. A cast of 30 yards is a fair distance for the salmon-rod and generally ample for fishing purposes. A trout-line of 50 yards is more than sufficient for the day, as not half the quantity will be in use for ordinary fish. Such lines are Various. The fly-fisher, besides his rod, now made for dry-fly fishing, tapered at`line, and winch, his fly-book or his box, re- Pennell [Eyed] Sneck Bend.
Round Bend, Crystal Roach. Kirby.
Hooks. 9. 11. 12. 13. 6. 5. 1. 3. 4. 2.
Limerick [Eyed] 2/0.
Limerick [Eyed] 12.
Limerick 6/%.
Limerick 4/0. 6. 2. 3. 1. [Eyed] Treble [Eyed and Shank] SCALE OF HOOKS. both ends, and heavy in the middle to fit the temper of split cane rods.
Hooks. The bulk of the fish hooks used in the world are made in England-Redditch and Kendal being the centres of manufacture. They are exported by millions. The preference of the moment is for the Pennell-Limerick in salmon, and a Pennell- Sneck pattern for the superior class of small trout flies. The sizes vary from the huge salmon-fly affected in the spring and at other periods for heavy waters, and the tiny midge iron, known as 000 or No. 17, according to the custom of the manufacturer. The latter is probably as near an approach to the invisible hook as can be reached with Double Pennell. quires a net or gaff, a basket or bag, and a set of waders. These are the essentials of his equipment, but the catalogue may be extended ad lib. for those who require their spring balance weighing-machine, vaseline, "priest," gag, disgorger, knee-protector, clearing ring, and small bottle of odourless paraffin for the anointment of the cockwinged flies. In case of accidents by the waterside, a little spare silk, scissors, pliers, and wax, are really useful, but the angler's equipment, when overdone, increases his burden without adding to his efficiency.
Many anglers are naturally expert in the making and repairing of tackle; others are naturally clumsy with their fingers and ANGLING] never succeed in even the rudimentary mechanical achievements. The incapables, however, need not distress themselves, since everything that is necessary, and with heaps to spare, can be purchased from the tackle makers.
Care of Tackle. There are certain operations, nevertheless, which the angler should try to master; he need not enter into a course of instruction in the mysteries of fly-dressing, but he should be able to whip a hook to a trace, or patch up a broken rod top. And, next to the acquisition of sound simple tackle comes the duty of taking methodical care of it, both when in use and when in inaction. The line should always be taken off the reel to dry at the end of a MODERN CREEL. day's fishing; the ferruled joints should be kept vaselined; and every bit of varnish that is accidentally knocked off should be replaced; flies should be kept in an atmosphere of albo-carbon, or other preservative, to keep out moths; hooks deposited where rust will not corrupt, and gut casts excluded from light and moisture. Precautions like these mean money saved, and efficiency promoted.
Seasons and Regulations. - By the law of the land, rod-fishing for salmon begins in England and Wales on February Ist and ends on November 2nd; in Scotland, the season is from February 10th to November Ist; in Ireland, the dates vary according to districts, but the close time for netting must never be less than 168 days. The general trout season begins with February and ends with September, but at present in Scotland there is no fence-time for trout. The duration of the close-seasons for salmon is often fixed by the local Boards of Conservators under powers given them by the Salmon Fisheries Act, and the legal limits are only enforced where the rivers are not under local governance. Accordingly, salmonfishing in Scotland practically extends from January 10th in the north to the end of November in the south, but these are the extreme exceptions affecting a small proportion of the streams. All private trout fisheries in England are allowed to fix their own close times, and they vary considerably in different districts. Trout are not in condition before March in any river, and in the choicest streams the opening day is in April or May. The last day of September is the invariable limit of the season. Salmon licences are required in England, Wales, and