It is too much the habit with all anglers to seek their sport only during the day, for often better fishing and far pleasanter can be had at night. So common is this mistake that few persons know that fish, as a general thing feed more freely at night than during the sunlight hours. In some trout streams the largest trout are never taken during the day. Caledonia brook is an instance. In its waters which are as clear as liquid glass, the big fellows, the wise, cunning grandfathers who have seen such deceptive offerings as flies before, cannot be tempted from their safe retreats under logs and stones so long as daylight lasts during the months of July and August. Only when the sun has disappeared and darkness rules can the fisherman hope to lure them to his creel with some large, light colored fly; then no moon must interfere with her "ray serene," but the darker the time the more suitable it is. A little piece of worm on the point of the hooks adds to its killing qualities on such occasions.

In other matters such as bass fishing, we have thought the moon to be an advantage. It it does not guide the prey to the lure it at least lends beauty to the scene and bathes in its pale light the surroundings of the fisher man, which are often so exceedingly beautiful. In addition, it assists him in his work and enables him to handle his tackle more easily and play his fish more comfortably.

It is not in every locality, nor with all varieties of fish that night fishing is successful. In the ponds of Long Island, although trout are often caught by poachers on set lines, they are rarely taken with the fly at night, and fishing for them would not pay for the trouble. Whether fish will bite or rise at night is a question that must be determined in different localities by trial. We do not know any rules or principles that govern. There are only few kinds of fish that we know of that always, in all places and on all occasions bite better at night than during the day, and those are our uneasy friends, the eel, and bullhead and catfish. Darkness suits their sinuous nature.

The next suggestion of general application is the desirability of using the finest tackle that can be obtained and that is otherwise suitable. When we look at the heavy rods, the clumsy materials, the coarse lines and the huge flies that are so much in vogue, we wonder that any fish are caught, and feel that we cannot too often or too earnestly press upon those of our readers who desire to reach more than mediocrity in the art the necessity of fine tackle. We have found anglers fishing for salmon with a three-ply twisted leader fit to haul over the rocks the heaviest bass, and almost capable of defying the shark-like jaws of the blue fish. We have seen gentlemen at the club houses along the coast where they would be expected to be educated and refined, using double brass wire for leaders, to catch striped bass in the surf in order to escape the occasional raids of the blue fish. But more objectional than all, the practice of a large part of our trout fly-fishermen is to use a leader of gut heavy enough to hold a salmon. Anglers who do these things will never be "lucky." Instead of sighing for better fortune or envying their brethren who bring in better filled baskets they should heed these words, and get better tackle.

It is true that until the angler who has used his coarse tackle gets accustomed to the more delicate, till the fly-fisherman for instance, overcomes the habit of "striking with all his might," advised by one famous writer, he will meet with a "smash up" now and then, and lose some fish. It is also true that in fishing lor striped bass in the surf with a single gut, a blue fish will frequently cut the line and carry off bait and hook. But these are matters which can be cured by practice or borne with equanimity, and do not compare with the sense of degradation that one feels when a brother of the angle catches all the fish and carries off all the honors.

If we find that we are taking nothing, while our neighbor is doing well and having fine sport, we should, instead of denouncing the fates, attribute the disparity in nine cases out of ten to his finer tackle, unless we can see that he is a better fisherman than ourselves. We should try to find out at once in what our inferiority lies and remedy it without delay. So accustomed are people to common and rude implements, that they will at first think it impossible to have better. The tautog fisherman as a case in point, has always used a stick, a string and a hook, or what is even inferior, a hand line, and to tell him that he would do better with a short leader of silk-worm gut, would make him stare and laugh, yet the change would often, especially in still, clear water double his catch.

The rule should be an invariable one, that for fish under ten pounds, a leader of gut not heavier than that known as salmon gut should be used. This will bear a direct strain of six pounds, and should enable a skillful angler to kill a salmon that would weigh fifty, if not a hundred. An ordinary flax line will part at about a strain of twenty-five pounds, and a three-ply twisted gut leader will support about eighteen pounds. A fish in the water cannot pull as much as half his dead weight out of it, and under the pliancy of the rod does not exert one fifth as much force; so that even a fine trout leader which will not sustain two pounds, direct pull, will kill a fish of many times that weight, if scientifically managed. In giving these estimates of resistances, we would say they were tested by spring balances to which the lines were tied, and as the rupture always occurred at the knots, it is probable we have somewhat understated the strength of the materials.

It must be understood that in this part of this work we are not writing for mere novices, and we presume that the reader has mastered the rudiments of the anglers art, and has had more or less practice. We put forward such hints and suggestions as our experience has taught us to believe, even good fishermen have not always noticed, and which if acted on, will tend to perfect the performance of those who have passed the stage of mere beginners and desire to hold the rank of adepts. Our directions will not be extended, and will not cover the simplest fishing rules or maxims, but will be confined to what may be regarded rather as finishing touches with reference to whatever is new, and not mentioned by other writers, with perhaps a few other ideas that are peculiarily our own.