54 



ROD & CREEL 



All you need is some single Limerick hooks on strong twisted 

 gut, size 5/0, No. 8 swivels, small split rings and a few pieces of 

 No. 24 wire. The hooks must be perfectly tempered and you 

 must be sure to test them, no matter how highly they are recom- 

 mended or you may find yourself in the unenviable position I was 

 a year or two ago when, with the river full of steelheads, I dis- 

 covered that all my praw r n tackle was put up on soft tempered 

 hooks which straightened right out. I lost three good fish in 

 succession and then had to use silver devons, which they were 

 not taking well. 



If you cannot get good hooks on gut, get eyed hooks for 

 salmon flies without and bind them on. To make the tackle, 

 bind a hook on to a swivel so that hook and gut are 3% inches 

 long, then take a piece of your wire and loop it around the gut. 

 A split ring with another swivel attached to it is then fastened 

 on to the swivel on the gut and between the two swivels is a small 

 fairly flat spinner. The following illustrations will give you an 

 idea of what the tackle is like and how the prawn should look 

 after it is on. 



PRAWN TACKLE 



In putting the prawn on this sort of tackle the wire is run 

 right through the centre from the head and the tail is down by 

 the hook. The usual method is with head down. With a spool of 

 scarlet silk or thread bind the tail on with two or three turns 

 and at the joint of the tail take a half hitch, then a few more 

 turns and another half hitch and so on right up the prawn, taking 

 care to bind the last part very carefully. 



A prawn so put on will, unless you hit it against something, 

 last a long time. Sometimes a few extra turns of silk are needed, 

 occasionally even after a strike this is all that is necessary. 



