Flies are commonly made with a loop at the end of the gut, to be passed through a corresponding loop at the end of the casting line. A much neater plan is to cut off the loops, or buy your flies without them, and tie the two ends together as above described.
Flies tied on eyed hooks are a great improvement on the old style. They are more easily packed, not having that awkward coil of gut attached to them, which is always so difficult to manage in a book, and which is almost certain to result in the loss of some flies on a windy day. They can be readily attached and detached when necessary, and are lighter and float better, and there is not that friction of the gut at the most important point, as with flies tied on gut. I have frequently found when fishing that the fly I particularly wished to use on clear water was tied on stout gut for rough water, and was larger than my gut cast above it. This is wrong in principle, but with eyed hooks gut to suit the water could easily be tied on.
Never go out without a landing-net. The most convenient is that with a telescopic handle and folding ring. Near the upper end of the outside part of the handle should be a brass spring hook, to slip over the strap which crosses your chest towards the left side. When you hook a fish, you can, without moving the right hand from the rod, lift the landing-net off with the left hand and throw out the handle ready for use. A pair of waterproof wading-boots or stockings, a good pocket-knife, a piece of india-rubber, with which to straighten the gut, a wicker creel, and something to eat, drink, and smoke, and you are equipped for a day's sport, with the exception of flies, of which I shall next treat.
There is no subject on which anglers differ so much as to what assortment of flies is necessary. Some will carry as many as a hundred sorts in their book, while a few, following Mr. Cholmondely Pennell, are content with three nondescripts of quite an unnatural appearance, and pretend they can catch as many fish as the man who goes prepared with a larger quantity. Walton names _nine_, beside caterpillars; and Cotton mentions _sixty-nine_; while Ronald, in his splendid work, describes very many more to choose from. David Foster speaks of _thirty-one_. My experience has taught me that about _twenty_ are necessary and sufficient for all ordinary purposes. In calm weather and smooth water one fly at a time is enough; but in rain, wind, or broken water, two, three, or even four flies may be used with advantage, as you give the fish a variety to choose from, and can thereby find out which kind they are taking, and adapt your cast to their taste.