32 ANGLING FOR PIKE. 



lace and gimp manufacturer, very kindly caiTied out some 

 experiments for me. In the end lie managed to produce 000 

 gimp (see gauges of gimp, Fig. 10) exactly double tlie strength 

 of ordinary gimp the same size. This great step in advance 

 was effected by means of a single strand of wire, made of a 

 patent metal possessing great tensile strength. This wire- 

 centred gimp, which can be relied on not to grow rotten in a 

 few months, was patented by Warner & Sons, of Redditch. 

 The only fault it has is that it is a little stiff, and can only 

 be used with advantage for traces, and in other positions 

 where great pliancy is not required. In future pages I will 

 indicate where it should be used. It is largely used by salt- 

 water anglers, on account of its durability. 



Gimp-stain. — Gimp when new is the colour of either 

 brass, copper, or silver. Copper shows the least in the water. 

 Silver gimp is useful for any portion of tackle which lies 

 close to the bait, and actually adds to the bait's attractiveness. 

 For the rest of the tackle the gimp should be stained ; 

 and this staining question has been a serious matter any- 

 where out of London. Possibly, in the course of the next 

 hundred years, a gimp -manufacturer will see his way to stain 

 the wire before it is wound round the silk ; but I do not expect to 

 see it. In our smoke and sulphur-ridden metropolis, the angler 

 has only to hang up his coil of gimp on a nail in a gas-lit room 

 for a few days, and it will quickly lose its lustre. The great 

 difficulty in staining gimp with chemicals is to avoid rotting 

 the silk. Mr. Cholmondeley-Pennell's recipe for brass gimp 

 (bichlorate of platinum one part, water ten parts) has been 

 used by some with disastrous results, but I am inclined to 

 think the fault lay with the workmen, and not the tool. Mr. 

 Cholmondeley-Pennell suggests leaving the gimp in the stain 

 a quarter of an hour. This I maintain to be a mistake. The 

 solution should be so strong as to act almost instantaneously 

 on the wire, thus allowing the gimp to be removed before 

 the liquid can reach the silk. There is no occasion to turn the 

 brass black — it only requires dulling. My plan has been to leave 

 the gimp in the stain for five seconds, no more nor less, then 

 take it out, and throw it into a basin of clean water, rinse it 



