Well, Scholar, I have told the substance of all that either observation or discourse, or a diligent survey of Dubravius and Lebault, hath told me: not that they, in their long discourses, have not said more; but the most of the rest are so common observations, as if a man should tell a good arithmetician thattwice two is four. I will therefore put an end to this discourse; and we will here sit down and rest us.

CHAP. XXI.

Directions for making of a Line, and for the colouring of both Rod and Line.

you

Piscator. WELL, Scholar, I have held you too long about these cadis, and smaller fish, and rivers, and fishponds; and my spirits are almost spent, and so I doubt is your patience: but being we are now almost at Tottenham, where I first met you, and where we are to part, I will lose no time, but give you a little direction how to make and order your lines, and to colour the hair of which make your lines, for that is very needful to be known of an angler; and also how to paint your rod, especially your top; for a right grown top is a choice commodity, and should be preserved from the water soaking into it, which makes it in wet weather to be heavy and fish illfavouredly, and not true; and also it rots quickly for want of painting: and I think a good top is worth preserving, or I had not taken care to keep a top above twenty years.1

A Discourse of Fish and Fish-ponds, by a Person of Honour; who, I have been told by one who knew him, was the Hon. Roger North, author of the Life of the Lord Keeper Guildford. See before, page 105.

(1) The author having said nothing about choosing or making Rods in any part of his book, it was thought proper to insert the following directions. For

First note, that you are to

But first for your Line. take care that your hair be round and clear, and free from galls, or scabs, or frets: for a well-chosen, even, clear, round hair, of a kind of glass-colour, will prove as strong as three uneven scabby hairs that are ill chosen,

fishing at the bottom, whether with a running-line or float, the reed or canerod is, on account of its lightness and elasticity, the best, especially if you angle for those fish which bite but tenderly, as Roach and Dace. And of these there are rods that put up, and make a walking-stick. There are others in many joints, that put up together in a bag, and are therefore called bag-rods; these last are very useful to travel with, as they take but little room. Next to these is the hasel; but that is more apt to warp than the cane: these, as also excellent fly-rods, are to be had at all the fishing-tackle shops in London, and therefore need no particular description: only be careful, whenever you bespeak a rod of reed or cane, that the workman does not rasp down into the bark which grows round the joints, a fault which the makers of rods are often guilty of; the consequence whereof is, that the rod is thereby made weaker at the joints than elsewhere; and there being no bark to repel the wet, it soon rots, and, whenever you hook a large fish, certainly breaks.

But if you live in the country, and are forced to make your own rods, take these directions:

Between the latter end of November and Christmas, when the sap is gone down into the roots of trees, gather the straightest hasels you can find, for stocks; and let them, at the greatest end, be about an inch or more in diameter: at the same time gather shoots of a less size, for middle pieces, and tops: tie them together in a bundle, and let them lie on a dry floor: at the end of fifteen or sixteen months, match them together; and to the slender ends of the tops, after cutting off about eight or ten inches, whip a fine taper piece of whalebone of that length: then cut the ends of the stock, the middle-piece, and the top, with a long slant, so that they may join exactly to each other; and spread some shoemaker's-wax, very thin, over the slants; bind them neatly with strong waxed thread; and, lastly, fix a strong loop of horse-hair to the whalebone. Let the rod, so made, lie a week to settle, before you use it. In this manner, also, you are to make a fly-rod; only observe that the latter must be much slenderer from the end of the stock, than the former.

But for the neatest fly-rod you can make, get a yellow whole-deal board that is free from knots, cut off about seven feet of the best end, and saw it into some square breadths; let a joiner plane off the angles, and make it perfectly round, a little tapering, and this will serve for the stock; then piece it to a fine straight hasel, of about six feet long, and then a delicate piece of fine-grained yew, planed round like an arrow, and tapering, with whale-bone, as before, of about two feet in length. There is no determining precisely the length of a flyrod; but one of fourteen feet is as long as can be well managed with one hand, To colour the stock, dip a feather in aqua-fortis, and with your hand chafe it into the deal, and it will be of a cinnamon colour.

But before you attempt this sort of work, you must be able to bind neatly, and fasten off; for which directions are given in the Notes on Chap. XVII. When the season is over, and you have done with your rods, take them to pieces, and bind the joints to a strait pole, and let them continue so bound till the season returns for using them again. See more directions about the flyrod, Part II. Chap. V.

Rods, for Barbel, Carp, and other large fish, should be of hasel, and proportionably stronger than those for Roach and Dace. And note, that for fly-fishing

You shall seldom find

and full of galls or unevenness. a black hair but it is round, but many white are flat and uneven; therefore, if you get a lock of right, round, clear, glass-colour hair make much of it.

And for making your line, observe this rule: first, let your hair be clean washed ere you go about to twist it; and then choose not only the clearest hair for it, but hairs that be of an equal bigness, for such do usually stretch all together, and break all together, which hairs of an unequal bigness never do, but break singly, and so deceive the angler that trusts to them.

When you have twisted your links, lay them in water for a quarter of an hour at least, and then twist them over again before you tie them into a line: for those that do not so shall usually find their line to have a hair or two shrink, and be shorter than the rest, at the first fishing with it, which is so much of the strength of the line lost for want of first watering it and then re-twisting it; and

the bamboo-cane is excellent. Screws to rods are not only heavy, and apt to be out of repair, but they are absolutely unnecessary; and the common way of inserting one joint in another is sufficiently secure, if the work be true.

Our forefathers were wont to pursue even their amusements with great for. mality. An Angler of the last age must have his fishing-coat, which, if not black, was at least of a very dark colour; a black velvet cap, like those which jockies now wear, only larger; and a rod with a stock as long as a halbert: and thus equipped, would he stalk forth with the eyes of a whole neighbourhood upon him.

But in these later days, bag-rods have been invented, which the angler may easily conceal, and do not proclaim to all the world where he is going. Those for float-fishing are now become common; but this invention has lately been extended to rods for fly-fishing; and here follows a description of such a neat, portable, and useful one, as no angler that has once tried it will ever be with

out.

Let the joints be four in number, and made of hiccory, or some such very tough wood, and two feet four inches in length, the largest joint not exceeding half an inch in thickness. The top must be bamboo shaved. And for the stock, let it be of ash, full in the grasp, of an equal length with the other joints; and with a strong ferule at the smaller end, made to receive the large joint, which must be well shouldered and fitted to it with the utmost exactness.

This rod will go into a bag, and lie very well concealed in a pocket in the lining of your coat, on the left side, made straight on purpose to receive it.

this is most visible in a seven-hair line, one of those which hath always a black hair in the middle.'

(1) Your line, whether it be a running-line, or for float-fishing, had best be of hair; unless you fish for Barbel, and then it must be of strong silk. And the latter (the line for float-fishing) must be proportioned to the general size of the fish you expect; always remembering that the single hair is to be preferred for Roach or Dace-fishing. But the fly-line is to be very strong; and, for the greater facility in throwing, should be eighteen or twenty hairs at the top, and so diminishing insensibly to the hook. There are lines now to be had at the fishing-tackle shops that have no joints, but wove in one piece.

But notwithstanding this and other improvements, perhaps some may still choose to make their own liues. In which case, if they prefer those twisted with the fingers, they need only observe the rules given by the author for that purpose. But, for greater neatness and expedition, I would recommend an engine lately invented, which is now to be had at almost any fishing-tackle shop in London; it consists of a large horizontal wheel and three very small ones, inclosed in a brass box about a quarter of an inch thick, and two inches in diameter; the axis of each of the small wheels is continued through the under-side of the box, and is formed into a hook: by means of a strong screw it may be fixed in any post or partition, and is set in motion by a small winch in the centre of the box.

To twist links with this engine, take as many hairs as you intend each shall consist of, and, dividing them into three parts, tie each parcel to a bit of fine twine, about six inches long, doubled, and put through the aforesaid hooks; then take a piece of lead, of conical figure, two inches high, and two in diameter at the base, with a hook at the apex or point; tie your three parcels of hair into one knot, and to this, by the hook, hang the weight.

Lastly, take a quart, or largor, buttle-cork; and cut into the sides, at equal distances three grooves; and placing it so as to receive each division of hair, begin to twist: you will find the link begin to twist with great evenness at the lead; as it grows tighter, shift the cork a little upwards; and when the whole is sufficiently twisted, take out the cork, and tie the link into a knot; and so proceed till you have twisted links sufficient for your line, observing to lessen the number of hairs in each link in such proportion as that the line may be taper.

When you use the fly, you will find it necessary to continue your line to a greater degree of fineness; in order to which, supposing the line to be eight yards in length, fasten a piece of three or four twisted links, tapering till it becomes of the size of a fine grass; and to the end of this fix your hook-link, which should be either of very fine grass, or silk-worm gut. A week's practice will enable a learner to throw one of these lines; and he may lengthen it, by a yard at a time, at the greater end, till he can throw fifteen yards neatly, till when he is to reckon himself but a novice.

For the colour, you must be determined by that of the river you fish in: but I have found that a line of the colour of pepper and salt, when mixed, will suit any water.

Many inconveniences attend the use of twisted (open) hairs for your hookline : see Part II. Chap. V. Silk-worm gut is both fine and very strong; but then it is apt to fray; though this may, in some measure, be prevented by waxing it well.

Indian, or sea-grass, makes excellent hook lines; and though some object to it, as being apt to grow brittle, and to kink in using, with proper management

And for dyeing of your hairs, do it thus: take a pint of strong ale, half a pound of soot, and a little quantity of the juice of walnut-tree leaves, and an equal quantity of alum; put these together into a pot, pan, or pipkin, and boil them half an hour; and having so done, let it cool; and being cold, put your hair into it, and there let it lie; it will turn your hair to be a kind of water or glass colour, or greenish; and the longer you let it lie, the deeper coloured it will be. You might be taught to make many other colours, but it is to little purpose; for doubtless the water-colour or glass-coloured hair is the most choice and most useful for an angler, but let it not be too green.

But if you desire to colour hair greener, then do it thus: take a quart of small ale, half a pound of alum; then put these into a pan or pipkin, and your hair into it with them; then put it upon a fire, and let it boil softly for half an hour; and then take out your hair, and let it dry; and having so done, then take a pottle of water, and put into it two handfuls of marigolds, and cover it with a tile or what you think fit, and set it again on the fire, where it is to boil again softly for half an hour, about which time the scum will turn yellow; then put into it half a pound of copperas, beaten small, and with

it is the best material for the purpose yet known, especially if ordered in the following manner:

Take as many of the finest you can get, as you please: put them into any vessel; and pour therein the scummed fat of a pot, wherein fresh, but by no means salt meat has been boiled: when they have lain three or four hours, take them out one by one, and, stripping the grease off with your finger and thumb (but do not wipe them) stretch each grass as long as it will yield; coil them up in rings, and lay them by; and you will find them become near as small, full as round, and much stronger than the best single hairs you can get. To preserve them moist, keep them in a piece of bladder well oiled; and before you use them let them soak about half an hour in water; or, in your walk to the river-side, put a length of it into your mouth.

If your grass is coarse, it will fall heavily in the water, and scare away the fish; on which account gut has the advantage. But after all, if your grass be

fine and round, it is the best thing you can use.