74 FISHING KITS AND EQUIPMENT 



market undergoes a bleaching process which turns it 

 white and practically opaque. 



Before using the leader it should be tested for 



strength, and in this connection it should be said that 



care must be taken not to over-test it 



Testing ^ fais results in weakening it. For 



the Leader. 111 u 



average fishing a leader that tests three 



and a half to four pounds is amply strong. Attach one 

 end of the leader to a hook in the wall and use your 

 balances. Pull slowly and steadily until the leader 

 snaps it happens pretty often or shows the neces- 

 sary strength. 



Some dealers list silkworm gut, beginning with the 

 thinnest ordinarily sold, as follows : Regular, Padrona 

 Second, Padrona First, Marana, and 

 Sizes Marana Double Thick. Others have 

 discarded this nomenclature and list in 

 this way: Light Trout, Heavy Trout, Heavy Bass, 

 Extra Heavy Bass, Salmon, and Heavy Salmon. For 

 average fishing, the locality and conditions making 

 some difference, the first two sizes in each list are the 

 most used. Leaders may be had three, six and nine 

 feet in length. A nine-foot leader is too long to use on 

 a trout fly-rod since there is danger of reeling the knot 

 between line and leader through the tip-guide, when 

 the line is at once locked fast. A six-foot leader is 

 about right and this may be made by looping together 

 two leaders of three feet, preferably of different caliber, 

 so as to form a tapered leader. 



