TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 45 



from above, whilst the fish we wish to catch is, in all proba- 

 bility, looking up from below, and that our line being ' flotant ' 

 is but a few inches below the surface of the water. ' The result 

 is that when he comes up to take the fly the stratum of water 

 interposed between the gut and the sky is really, when viewed 

 by the human eye at any rate, almost colourless. It is the 

 depth of water which produces the depth of colour. The 

 same thing again applies to the clear streams which after a 

 flood become merely slightly thickened with mud and never 

 take the red or bog water stain under any circumstances. 



In order as far as might be to satisfy my own mind as 

 to what practically was the best stain, I arranged an experiment in 

 which the actual conditions of the floating line were as nearly 

 as possible reproduced substituting my own eye for that of 

 the fish. I got a glass tank with a glass bottom, and I found 

 that with about three inches of water in it the difference between 

 water stained with tea or coffee to about the same extent as the 

 red water of a river, or slightly clouded to represent the waters 

 of a chalk stream, was, for practical purposes, nil, and I 

 came to the conclusion, after trying various experiments on 

 these lines, that the stain which was most like the colour of the 

 sky was in every case the least visible ; also, that the very 

 lightest stain was better than a dark one, and that in the case of 

 perfectly sound clear gut no stain at all seemed practically to be 

 required, as the negative colour, or rather approximate colour- 

 lessness, of the gut seemed to harmonise, on the whole, very 

 well with most kinds of sky tint. 



When, however, the gut is not entirely round and clear, or 

 is at all ' stringy,' it is very apt to have a sort of gloss, or, when 

 the sun is shining upon it, glittering effect in the water, which 

 is highly undesirable. In such a case some neutral-tinted 

 stain, which will have the effect of removing the gloss in 

 question, would probably be very advantageous. I know no 

 better stain for this purpose, or for a sort of greyish green that 

 it produces, than the following, for which I was originally 

 indebted to Mr. W. C. Stewart, the accomplished fisherman 



