30 MODERN PRACTICAL ANGLER. 



obtainable. It is to be remembered that the fish sees 

 the gut usually from below, and that therefore, especially 

 in fly-fishing, the colour of the water hardly affects the 

 question. A colour which without being glossy will 

 assimilate best with the sky-tint for the time being is 

 that which would be theoretically perfect if obtainable, 

 but as the sky-tints change perpetually, dark alternating 

 with light, and sun with shade, so as to make it impos- 

 sible in practice to keep the colours actually matched, 

 the next best thing is to employ a colour which har- 

 monizes best with the largest number of the most com- 

 monly prevailing cloud-tints. This colour appears to be 

 a sort of greyish-green, but I have never met with any 

 single stain which will produce it. It seems to require 

 the blending of several separate tints, and that may 

 probably be the secret of the success of the following 

 receipt, for which I was originally indebted to my friend 

 Mr. W. C. Stewart :— 



The first step in the process is to impart to the gut a lightish tint of 

 the common " red-water stain." For this purpose take a teacupful of 

 black tea, and boil it with a quart of water : keeping the gut steeped 

 in the mixture until it has acquired the necessary tint. This process 

 will sometimes take only half an hour or even less, and sometimes 

 several hours, according to the strength and staining power of the tea : 

 when sufTiciently stained, rinse the gut well in cold water. When dry, 

 take a handful of logwood-chips (obtainable at most druggists), and 

 boil Ihcm in a quart of water till the latter is reduced to about a pint. 

 Then take it off the fire, and put into it a small piece of copperas, (sul- 

 phate of copper) about the size of a hazel nut, powdered, stir the mix- 

 ture, and when the copperas is dissolved, which it will be in a few 

 minutes, dip the gut into the mixture until it has got the dirty greyish- 



