316 AMATEUR TACKLE MAKING, ETC. 



from end to end with a knife, the gut or gimp 

 untwisted, and then closed in the same way as a 

 split shot. A minnow tackle dropper may be 

 fashioned in the same way, but in lieu of the 

 splitting, a small hole is drilled at one end, from 

 which the whole should gradually taper. Two-thirds 

 of an inch is the usual length of a lead of this 

 description. It should, in the case of being bored, 

 be attached to the trace by means of a loop, to admit 

 of freedom. Movable lip hooks are also looped on. 

 The hook in this case is tied on to a separate scrap 

 of gut, the ends of which are turned back on the 

 hook's shank, and secured with the tying silk, thus 

 forming two tiny loops through which the main line 

 or trace may be threaded, a twist of this around the 

 middle of the shank, after being threaded through 

 one loop, and before going through the next, is often 

 done, to ensure a necessary degree of stiffness to the 

 movable hook. 



Cast making is a task of easy accomplishment, 

 when the knots are known, as after the most useful 

 of these are acquired, care in tapering the cast, in 

 utilising the gut by the least possible expenditure 

 of material, in waste ends from knots, is readily 

 attained. The knot most indispensable is the one 

 known as the fisherman's. It is formed as follows : 

 place the two ends (one in each hand) it is desired 

 to unite horizontally side by side, take one of them 

 and turn it back so as to form a loop, now bring the 

 tag end of this loop round under the straight end of 

 the gut hitherto untouched, and then through the 



