HOW TO SPLICE A LINE. 



21 



Fig. 7. Fasten-off of Binding. 



holder, or your finger, along tlie splice, take three turns of 

 silk over it, put tlie end under the turns, tighten up, and pull 

 the end through as far 

 as it will come (Fig. 7). 

 This finish off is use- 

 ful for all kinds of 

 bindings, and is well 

 worth learning. 



G n t , manufactured 

 out of silkworms, 

 should be carefully 

 selected by the chalk- 

 stream fly-fisher. It is 

 sold either made up 

 into casts, or in hanks 

 of about 100 lengths, 

 just as it is imported. 

 The very finest gut 



has to be drawn through steel plates, and is then known as 

 drawn gut. Drawn gut lacks strength, and quickly frays; 

 but its use is, nevertheless, absolutely necessary on bright 

 days, in well-fished chalk streams. My advice is never to 

 use it if trout can be caught without it. More than one of 

 my angling friends will never use it under any circumstances 

 whatever. 



Most anglers buy their casts ready made. If the angler buys 

 a hank of gut 15in. long — a considerable, but not an extreme, 

 length — he can make up casts in which the knots are at least 

 13in. apart. I have just received a hank of the finest undrawn 

 Telarana gut, 15in. long, from Mr. W. Robertson, of Bothwell 

 Street, Glasgow, at the very moderate cost of 5s., and have 

 recently come across some Ligero gut, sold by Mr. Cummins, 

 of Bishop Auckland, 17iin. in length, about as fine as the 

 Telarana gut from Glasgow, but, being longer, of course a 

 little more expensive. Drawn gut is not necessarily so fine 

 as the two classes I have mentioned; but it can be, and is, 

 made considerably finer than hair. It should not be less 

 »than 16in. in length. The finest drawn gut will not hold a 



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