TACKLE 71 



LEADER BOXES 



Leaders for immediate use should be soaked the night 

 before and carried in a regular leader box which is 

 provided with pads of felt to hold moisture. Spare 

 leaders and gut strands can be carried in the tackle 

 book. I know a good angler who carries his leaders in 

 a home-made leader box improvised from a tobacco can. 

 I suspect that he does it to impress his wife with the 

 fact that he is an economical man, since he can get an 

 aluminum leader box for about twenty cents; ones 

 finely finished in oxidized copper cost up to $1.50. I 

 do not recommend the combination leader and fly 

 boxes. 



CARE OF LEADERS 



Anglers were of the opinion once that gut should be 

 kept immersed in alcohol but nowadays it is stored by 

 wrapping it in chamois or dark heavy paper and keep- 

 ing it away from the light. 



SUBSTITUTE GUT 



Silk worm gut has a number of faults and a real 

 substitute is much desired. One substitute is made of 

 Japanese fiber or twisted silk treated with oil or shellac 

 which in use soon becomes flimsy and worthless. An- 

 other is said to be a sort of " conglomerate gut " pro- 

 duced by drawing the gut from a great many worms at 

 the same time. Its chief merit is that it is made with- 

 out knots, except loops at the ends, and its " flat " 



