FOREST, LAKE, AND RIVER 



from nine to twelve feet in length, and consider- 

 able experience and skill is required to tie the 

 leader successfully. This gut is brittle when dry, 

 but becomes soft and pliable after being in the 

 water for half an hour or longer. A good salmon 

 leader will bear a strain of ten pounds, and an extra 

 good one, properly tied, will show a tensile 

 strength of twelve pounds without breaking. But 

 contrary to the belief of many anglers, it will not 

 bear as much strain after being thoroughly soft- 

 ened with water as it will when dry. A softened 

 leader is more elastic than a dry one, but the 

 strands when under strain cut into each other at 

 the knots, and usually break there. The very best 

 salmon leaders are always more or less scarce, and 

 often hard to get. The annual report of the silk- 

 worm-gut product always states that " the heavy 

 grades of salmon gut are short," at least the writer 

 has never seen it reported to be plentiful. Nine-feet 

 leaders made from what is known as Imperial Hebra 

 gut cost from three dollars to five dollars each. 



The very uncertainty of salmon fishing adds 

 fascination to the sport. No two seasons are ever 

 alike. One year the water will be low. The fish 

 have no set time to come up from the sea. They 

 come when they are ready, and no one ever knows 

 beforehand when that will be. It has been said 



38 



