TEOUT FLIES. 121 



damping box one constantly has to change flies, and 

 unless the gut has been well soaked it is apt to crack at 

 the knot ; or it is very apt, if there is a little wind (par- 

 ticularly in your favour), to go at the head of the fly, and 

 flick goes your fly to grass, and this is very trying 

 if you happen to be short of the particular pattern 

 the fish are fancying. There are various methods of 

 keeping gut damp. Several machines have been invented 

 more or less ingenious, but after all an old wax match 

 box, one of those big ones about six or seven inches long, 

 by three or four wide, does as well as anything. Get two 

 sheets of flannel or soft felt to fit in the box, but about 

 three-quarters of an inch shorter than the box ; damp them 

 well, but squeeze out actual wet, and lay the gut between 

 the sheets. If there are flies to it, let them project just 

 beyond, on the three-quarter inch space not filled by the 

 flannel, &c., and when you put the box in your breast 

 pocket keep this end uppermost, or you crush the flies ; a 

 cast line or two kept in soak is also useful. 



If you use eyed hooks you only want coils of loose 

 gut, and don't need to bother about flies, as you can 

 pick out your fly and tie him on then and there. While 

 speaking of eyed hooks I may as well go on with that 

 subject. Eyed hooks for eels and for salmon flies are 

 as old as the hills, but not so for trout. I had some 

 many years ago with a gut eye tied on, but trout 

 hooks with natural eyes to them were brought out first 

 by Mr. Hall some years ago. At first I did not much 

 like them, but further experience has changed my 

 opinion very much, and now I am gradually having all 

 my flies tied on them. In the first place if you keep 

 ordinary flies for more than two seasons the gut is not 

 trustworthy, it gets dry and brittle, and the fly is done 



