448 AMERICAN GAME FISHES. 



The first thing the amateur fisherman had better learn to 

 do is to tie the various knots indispensable in joining tackle. 

 This is a lesson necessary at the very outset of his appren- 

 ticeship. 



SECTION I KNOTS AND TIES. 



The properly tied leader, hook and line, bear the same 

 relation to "good form" in the angler, as the trim, well- 

 finished harness of a "two-forty" trotting horse does to the 

 good form of its owner. Imagine a symmetrical brilliant- 

 coated pacer tied to the sulky by means of hideous knots 

 and make-shift splices instead of smart buckles and carefully 

 adjusted straps — neat and strong in their arrangement! Or 

 fancy a man of reputed taste in dress promenading the 

 streets in fine broad-cloth sewed together with twine, and 

 pinned or tied instead of buttoned! Precisely analagous is 

 the condition of the outfit of that angler whose good gut 

 leaders are joined with knots that are unsightly and insecure, 

 and whose hooks and lines are strung together according to 

 his unskilled fancy. 



The remedy is simple, and one which every follower of the 

 "gentle craft" should be aware of. Efficient knots and ties 

 are as easily and swiftly made as insecure and unsightly ones. 

 A little careful attention to the following directions, and 

 practice with a piece of common cord for one half-hour, will 

 forever dissipate the angler's ignorance on this subject, and 

 give him the ability to have strongly made tackle, of the 

 appearance of which he need never be ashamed. 



To plunge in mcdias res of the subject, it is certain that 

 one of the very first lessons the angler has to learn is how to 

 tie a loop. This process seems easy enough; and so it is, if 

 the only material to be tied is a silk or cotton line. Almost 

 any loop will do, in such case. But assuming that gut is 

 required to be looped, its nature requires a knot of different 



