TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 25 



eye was pushed some little way sufficient to press back the 

 feathers and leave the eye unencumbered. 



The mode of attachment of the gut by the jam knot when 

 using a ' protector ' was as follows : 



The casting-line being well moistened, and the fly held in the 

 left-hand 'with the loop turned upwards, push about two inches of 

 the gut end upwards through the hook-eye ; pass it round under 

 the hook-shank, and slip the point underneath the central gut link 

 between the loop and the head of the fly. Then draw the central 

 link tight, and cut off the superfluous gut end to within a full \ of 

 an inch of the knot or a little more, according to the size of the fly. 

 Now pull the leather protector completely over the hook and body 

 of the fly backward, and so off. A paper protector can be removed 

 by simply tearing it across. 



As a matter of fact I found that this 'jam knot,' as I 

 have christened it from the form of its construction, could, 

 after a little practice, be readily tied without the use of any 

 protector, by merely holding the feathers back, with the hook, 

 between the thumb and first finger of the left hand. 



All necessity however for either 'practice' or 'protector' 

 in tying the knot has become a thing of the past, thanks to the 

 admirable invention of Mr. Alex. D. Campbell, who has dis- 

 covered an entirely new, and, so to speak, ' automatic,' mode 

 of effecting it, which is so perfectly simple and easy of manipu- 

 lation as at once to put all other methods ' out of court.' The 

 modus operandi will be best explained by a reference to the 

 illustrative diagrams, fig. 20, showing (i) the fly (enlarged) in 

 the position for tying the knot, which is seen half finished ; 

 (2) the bare hook (also enlarged) showing the jam knot finished, 

 all but the cutting off of the superfluous gut end; and (3) the 

 fly, (natural size), with the knot completed. 



The following is the verbal formulary : 



First. Take the fly by the head in the position shown, with the 

 eye turned upwards (i) ; pass 2 or. 3 inches of the end of the gut 

 casting-line, B, (previously well moistened) through the eye, towards 

 the point of the hook, and then, letting go the fly altogether, double 

 back the gut and make a single slip knot, c, round the centre link, D. 



