LEADERS, GUT, EYED FLIES 65 



long been used in dulling the gloss of new gut 

 without injuring it. 



The names given the various sizes of Spanish 

 silkworm gut, and their calibers, in thousandths 

 of an inch, follow: 



Leaders commonly used for trout fishing are 

 not expensive, as they are small in size and 

 composed of the longest strands; but tapered 

 leaders, now used for dry-fly fishing, cost more. 

 The tapered salmon leaders, which are made up 

 from three or four of the heaviest sizes of 

 gut, retail at $3 to $6 each. In a nine-foot 

 leader of this sort there are many short strands, 

 and these short strands must be selected with the 

 greatest care, because so many more of them 

 are imperfect than in the smaller sizes. 



Salmon leaders are sometimes made with 

 the upper third of three strands of small gut, 

 twisted hard; the middle of two strands, 

 twisted; and the point of medium weight single 

 gut. In the twisted gut the ends are sometimes 

 knotted separately, or the strands are spliced, 

 while the double gut strands are knotted in 



