70 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK. 



out, and being usually of some bright tint, deceive the fish 

 into rising at one of these frayed lashings for a fly, and indis- 

 pose them to take the cheat you intended for them. 



On a subsequent page, the reader will find directions for 

 making leaders and tying gut, with descriptions of the knots 

 used by anglers and tackle makers. 



Leaders, bottoms, and snoods, are made also of horsehair 

 and sometimes of " gimp" (the article of which the coarse 

 strings of violins are made). The latter is used for Pike, 

 Bass, Sheepshead,. Bluefish, or where gut is liable to be 

 frayed by coming in contact with sharp rocks, or to be bitten 

 off by the fish. 



Anglers who have not the skill or patience to tie on their 

 own hooks, purchase them already snooded at the tackle 

 stores. A more economical and convenient way for one who 

 can tie them himself, is to cut up a gut length into pieces of 

 two or three inches — short refuse pieces will answer as well^ — 

 and forming a short loop, seize it on to the shank of the 

 hook. 



In leaders for fly-fishing, the gut nearest the line should 

 be stout, each length diminishing in size to the finest that 

 can be procured, where it is tied to the stretcher fly. 



Lines are made of flax or plaited silk for bottom-fishing ; 

 flax is preferred when it is necessary to make a long cast, as 

 in Bass or Pike-fishing, as it runs more freely through the 

 rings or guides, and the end of the tip. 



Plaited silk is to be used invariably for trolling from a 

 boat, as it does not kink in passing through the water, as a 

 twisted line is apt to do. 



The best lines for fly-fishing are made of silk and hair ; 

 they taper gradually from the end which you attach to the 

 axle of the reel, to the end which joins the leader. I would 

 here remark, that in fly-fishing, the usual clumsy loop, or a 



