40 Fly-rods and Fly-tackle. 



CHAPTER III. 



LINES. 



FORMERLY lines for fly-fishing were made of hair, and 

 were twisted. These were superseded by a mixture of 

 hair and silk, the latter added to increase the strength, 

 and tone down the excessive roughness which charac- 

 terized the line made of hair alone. Again the twisted 

 line was found liable to kink, and braiding the strands 

 was substituted for twisting, to overcome this. But at 

 the present day the only line used in this country for 

 this purpose, is one braided from silk alone. 



Both " raw " and " boiled " silk are used, the raw silk 

 being the silk as spun by the worm, and with the gum, 

 exuded in that process to unite the filaments into the 

 form of a cocoon, still adhering to it;, and boiled silk 

 being, as its name implies, the former boiled to dissolve 

 and eliminate this gum. 



The Italian silk, from which the best lines are made, 

 when raw, comes in hanks resembling in form and size 

 the common woollen yarn of country stores. It is of a 

 most beautiful golden color, resembling in the sunlight 

 the hair of the giddiest of blondes. It feels somewhat 

 harsh to the touch very much like linen thread and 

 lines made from it partake of this characteristic. That 

 generally known as " grass line " is a fair sample, it 

 being wholly of Chinese raw silk, no grass whatever en- 

 tering into its composition. 



