KNOTS. 



23 



must be soaked for at least lialf an liour in cold water (warm 

 or liot water is injurious to gut). If you are by the river 

 side, and are knotting gut, the ends should be well moistened 

 in the mouth. 



One of the most reliable knots for gut is shown in Fig. 8, 

 which renders any explanation unnecessary, beyond stating that 



to begin the knot two ends are 



g^^^^^ N^ overlapped, tied in a single knot, 



FIG. 9. COMMON GUT KNOT. ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^ put through again. 



The knot most commonly used 

 is shown in Fig. 9. It is a trifle neater than the other, but 

 utterly unreliable if the gut is very fine, or the two pieces 

 to be Joined are of different thicknesses. The thick end of 

 the cast should ter- 

 minate with a loop 

 made as shown in 

 Fig. 10. The usual 

 length of a cast is 

 3yds., but in windy 

 weather, for casting 

 against the wind it 

 may be shortened. 



The knot shown in 

 Fig. 11 is one of the best for fastening the reel-line to the 

 cast ; but for wet-fly fishing a better plan is to have a long 

 loop of gut spliced on to the end of the reel line, to which 



the cast may be looped. 

 Where the line is drawn 

 through the water, as it 

 sometimes is when wet-fly 

 fishing, the knots cannot be 

 too few in number. In lieu 

 of the gut-loop above-mentioned, some anglers splice about 

 2ft. of twisted gut on to the reel-line. To this the cast, 

 which should, in consequence, be rather shorter, is looped. 

 This plan insures a very gradual taper between the reel-line 

 and the fly. 



The portion of the cast which wears out first is the fine end. 



Fig. 10. Knot for Gut Loop. 



Fig. 1L Knot for Fastening 

 Reel-line to Cast. 



