GUT, HAIR, AND GIMP. 



397 



000 > 



00 



FIG. 14. GAUGES OP GIMP. 



the cut (Fig. 14) will testify. These are the gauges of the gimp supplied 

 by Kennings, of Little Britain, London, and I am not aware if dif- 

 ferent gauges are in use by other 

 makers. For river and lake fish- 

 ing the angler seldom requires 

 it of greater gauge than 00, or 



at the largest ; whilst for ordi- 

 nary spinning purposes I have 

 found 000 to be quite thick 

 enough, i.e., if it be of pure silk 

 and new. Too often it is of 

 nothing but cotton and silk 

 mixed, with a disgraceful percent- 

 age of the former. In such case 

 it is soon rotten, as the angler 

 finds out to his cost some fine 

 day, when, after playing a good 

 fish, he suddenly finds himself 

 minus fish and hooks. " Ah ! " 



he probably exclaims, " he bit it in half.' ' Don't you believe it one 

 time in ten ; it is the inferior gimp that is to blame. 



I remember an instance of this which annoyed me extremely. We 

 were fishing at Tring reservoir, and the sport had been extremely indif- 

 ferent. Considering the water was snow broth, this state of things was 

 perhaps to be expected. Anyhow, nothing in the shape of fun had 

 gladdened our eyesight, till I, fishing with a live bait, announced the 

 disappearance of the float. The usual time had elapsed for gorging, and 



1 reeled up and struck. I hit a good fish, and succeeded in getting him in 

 sight, when on seeing us he made an extra plunge, and away he went. I 

 inspected the gimp quite new it was and found the villainous cotton 

 strands had rotted. The silk had broken much less cleanly, but the 

 cotton mixed with it had snapped like a carrot. On trying the remainder 

 I found the same thing occur yet this was obtained from a very 

 respectable tackle maker whose cheap goods I had never before found 

 nasty. Moral, always test, by piilling, the gimp you buy. I prefer the 

 silver gimp to that of a yellew colour, because it takes a stain much 

 more readily. 



Now, it is next door to insanity to use unstained gimp for any purpose. 

 Of course I am aware that a hungry pike will generally rush at anything 

 in the shape of food, and if a cable and chain like the tackle shown in 

 Fig. 13, were baited with a glittering dace, Esox Lucius would be " on " 

 under certain circumstances. But in waters where these fish have been 



