44 SALMON AND TROUT. 



parallel with each other the knots of one should fall on a 

 different spot to the knots of the other. This is to prevent any 

 undue thickening or awkwardness of twisting at any particular 

 point. The two lines, or rather what has now become one line, 

 being adjusted on the hook or peg in the manner described, 

 proceed to twist them together with the finger and thumb of 

 the right hand the left hand being employed alternately in 

 holding and securing the twist up to the point reached, and in 

 keeping clear and well separated from each other, at the angle 

 of something like 45, the two separate halves of the link, 

 which will exhibit a decided inclination to make a twist on 

 their own account. The line should be well moistened before 

 being twisted, and if done in the manner I have described and 

 with a certain amount of intelligence, that any man who is 

 accustomed to exercise his fingers in tackle dressing ought to 

 find it easy to acquire, the result will be an evenly twisted and 

 well-tapered gut top, which, unless prematurely carried away, 

 should last for ' generations.' 



This twisted line, being interposed between the running line 

 and the single gut bottom, materially increases, as I say, the 

 facility for casting in the case of salmon lines. 



Plaited gut lines are sold at the tackle shops which are free 

 from some of the defects I have pointed out in regard to their 

 casting lines of twisted gut, but they are not so strong as a line 

 twisted in the way I have described, and, except when very 

 thick indeed, are scarcely reliable for heavy work. 



Staining. All sorts of stains are recorded by different 

 authors and adopted by different fishermen according to in- 

 dividual taste and fancy. I used personally to fancy what is 

 known as the red water stain for rivers where the water took a 

 vlarkish or porter-coloured tint after afresh, and for 'white' 

 waters a light bluish or cloud colour. I am by no means clear, 

 however, that in the case of the fly fisher there is any sufficient 

 warrantry for this nicety of refinement, if, indeed, it be a 

 refinement at all in the proper sense of the word. When we 

 see a porter-coloured water we forget that we are looking down 



