KNOTS AND KNACKS 113 



CHAPTER XII 



KNOTS AND KNACKS 



AN angler once appealed to me to explain why his gut 

 casts always split in the top of the loop where he 

 attached his line. He produced several casts and on 

 examining them I noticed in each an ominous crack at 

 the place denoted. As the casts were composed of silk- 

 worm gut ; I not unnaturally inferred that they had not 

 been properly soaked before being used, but the aggrieved 

 inquirer assured me that he never failed to take this 

 elementary precaution. Thinking that probably the 

 casts were obtained from old stock I subjected them to 

 the usual tests and found them to be perfectly sound. 

 I could offer no valid reason why good casts should crack 

 in this manner and, as a last resource, I asked to see the 

 knot which the angler was in the habit of tying. When 

 the rod and line were handed to me I was astonished to 

 observe that a fisherman of evidently long standing 

 should employ such a crude means of attaching his line 

 to the cast. At the end of the line was a simple knot, 

 and when the connection to the gut loop was made, 

 another simple knot was tied. I inquired why such a 

 makeshift knot was used. The reply was to the effect 

 that it was easy and would not slip. I pointed out that 

 this knot was the cause of all the trouble, as round the 

 gut of the cast's loop there was only one turn of the line* 

 I explained that the strain on the loop was therefore 

 severe in this particular place, and that eventually the 

 thin line would cut through the gut. 



I showed to the careless angler how a " figure of eight " 

 knot could be tied, and demonstrated to him that this 

 H 



