EFUL HINTS.

By keeping your tackle-book neat and tidy, you will always have your
silks, hooks, lines, flies, &c. in their proper places. When the twine
that holds your two-piece Rod together has been thoroughly wet, then
when dry, and before using it again, wax well. If any portion of a Rod
of three or more pieces is so fast at the joints that you cannot draw,
then hold over the flame of a candle or by the fire, and then try, the
result is generally satisfactory. Let your gut soften in the water
before you commence fishing. Examine old stintings of gut and hair to
see there are no flaws by wear and tear, if there are, repair, or
discard altogether, carelessness in such matters always brings
disappointment in the long run. See that the points of your hooks are
sharp, and that the hooks are all right, as broken or crooked hooks are
of course useless. Make it a rule to examine closely any place where
you have had your book out dressing flies, &c., so that you leave
nothing behind. If your flies or hooks are fast to any impediment which
you cannot reach, don't pull like a savage, but go tenderly and
cautiously to work; a release is often effected by a little time and
patience; when the case is utterly hopeless, and a breakage becomes
inevitable, then try to save as much of your tackle as possible. Never
loose your temper because you loose your fish, let hope "whisper a
flattering tale" for the next you hook. When you have hooked a fish,
don't let him run if you can possibly help it, so as to slacken your
line, if you do, you stand a chance of loosing him, as the sudden
cessation of a strain upon the line frequently disengages the hold. If
you want to discover what fish are feeding upon, open the first you
catch, and then you will be able to judge correctly. Never strike a
fish hard with the fly, either on gut or hair, if the latter, a
breakage is almost sure to follow a violent jerk. Stormy, showery days
in summer and sometimes in spring, are days on which you will generally
take the best fish with the fly. After a flood, with a rising
barometer, and not too much wind, expect good sport. If the fish do not
like the worm after you have tried a few likely places, change for the
fly, and if you do not succeed with that, wait twenty minutes or so,
and probably you may then find them disposed to feed. Whenever you find
fish shy in taking the worm, I mean when they will neither take it nor
let it alone, pulling at it but not a