120 ELEMENTS OF ANGLING. 



not to do so either. In theory they are quite right; 

 drawn gut is kittle stuff to depend on for 

 subjugating trout that may be two pounds or more in 

 weight, and there is no doubt of the general truth 

 of their contention that so long as a fly is properly 

 presented to a fish he does not worry about the 

 gut to which it is attached, hardly, indeed, sees it. 

 But, for all that, there are waters on which this 

 inadequate gut is essential to success ; they are the 

 waters w r hich are most accessible to the angler, and 

 therefore most fished, club waters, hotel waters, 

 and so on. Also they are the waters to which the 

 novice must look for his sport unless he has a 

 friend who owns a length of dry-fly water and will 

 make him free of it. Therefore, the novice must 

 be prepared to fish with gut not only drawn, but 

 drawn four times ; it will not always be necessary, 

 but it will sometimes. Before starting out to fish, 

 therefore, let him put a couple of casts and three or 

 four points of each grade into his damper, so that 

 they will be always ready when wanted. 



One more convenience is a small tobacco tin 

 containing a small piece of flannel on which has 

 been smeared a teaspoonful of the Gishurstine 

 mentioned before. This is for greasing the line, a 

 thing that may have to be done two or three times 

 a day. The flannel is best carried in a tin, so that 



