GUT KNOTS. 45 



to, in which the objectionable features of the old method of 

 splicing are got rid of, whilst a very great additional strength is 

 obtained. To tie it lay the two strands side by side and 

 proceed in exactly the same manner as already described for 

 tying the single fisherman's knot, with the exception of the final 

 drawing together of the two separate half -hitches. Instead of 



3 

 a 



4 

 FIG. 9. THE BUFFER KNOT FOR SALMON GUT. 



drawing these two half-knots together and lapping down the 

 ends on the outside, as was the old manner, draw the knots 

 only to within about three-sixteenths or one-eighth of an inch 

 of each other, as shown in the engraving at A, and lap between 

 them with light waxed silk, or, still more artistic, with very fine 

 (soaked) gut. This ' between lapping ' relieves the knot itself 

 of half its duty, and on any sudden jerk, such as striking, acts 

 as a sort of ' buffer ' to receive and distribute the strain. Tied 

 in the old-fashioned way I find that, on applying a steady pull, 

 a salmon gut casting line breaks almost invariably at the knot. 

 Tied in the manner I suggest it will probably break at any 

 other point in preference. 



Major Traherne, whose almost unequalled experience as a 

 salmon fisher entitles his opinion to the utmost weight, wrote 

 as follows on the buffer knot for salmon casting lines : 



' Not long ago I fondly imagined I had invented a plan for 

 uniting the links of a casting line without knots, and was on my 



