APPENDIX ON FISHING-TACKLE. 327 



or thickness, has many advantages ; indeed many give it a very distinct 

 preference. It is used by anglers in roach and other fine fishing as well 

 as by all fly-fishers, whether for trout or salmon ; and for spinning 

 tackle, or, where fish run large, is twisted to the necessary strength. 

 From two to four yards are commonly used as lengths to be added to 

 the reel-line, either for bottom or fly fishing. Sometimes in fine fishing 

 a line is formed entirely of gut ; but more frequently it has a spun-hair 

 or silk line added to the upper or rod-end. 



Gut is distinguished according to its thickness into salmon-gut and 

 trout-gut. The salmon-gut when best is as thick as a large pin, and 

 the part fit for use about twelve inches long. The trout-gut is of 

 the thickness of sewing silk, or finer, and from nine to fifteen inches 

 long. To be good, it should be round, smooth, and clear, and may be 

 tested by drawing it through the hand. Gut should be thoroughly 

 wet before any attempt is made to bend it into a knot, as more fish are 

 lost from the gut cutting itself, than from its breaking. The same care 

 should be taken, on coming to the water-side, before a cast is made. 

 Gut is apt to fray, which may be partially prevented by waxing it. 



In both hair and gut lines the black whippings with shoemaker's 

 wax, usual in purchased lines, are apt, when fish are shy, to attract 

 their attention as much as the bait, and so prevent sport. In fly- 

 fishing these black specks are often the cause of false rises, both from 

 large and small fish, but particularly the latter, which mistake the 

 black whipping for a gnat. Many anglers, therefore, to avoid this 

 inconvenience, either use clear wax, or content themselves with the 

 water-knot ; but this is neither so neat or so strong, and the ends of 

 the gut are apt to catch every small straw on the water. 



SILK AND HAIR RUNNING LINES, for trout, salmon, and fly-fishing 

 generally. These, which are called by the dealers " patent taper silk 

 and hair lines," are of different degrees of strength and thickness, and 

 are wove together with great evenness, and therefore run very freely on 

 the reel ; and being besides, with ordinary care, very durable, they are 

 generally preferred. For trout, they should not be less than twenty 

 yards long, and where heavy fish resort, and the waters are wide, thirty 

 or forty are not too many. 



Lines are also made of platted silk and hair, which do not twist, and 

 are said to have all the advantages of the spun line, but dearer. They 

 are usually of a brown tint. 



For salmon, the running line should never be less than sixty yards, 

 and where large fish may be expected, eighty or a hundred are not too 

 much. They are even made to the length of two hundred. When of 

 these lengths, it is not usual to taper the line until within a few (say 

 twenty) yards of the end. 



All such lines require a foot or bottom length, which is a very 

 important adjunct. Unless where very fine fishing with one hair is 

 required, silkworm-gut (twisted for salmon) is the general article used. 



INDIAN WEED is made from a grass peculiar to the shores of the 

 Mediterranean, and was formerly much used by fly-fishers, but is now 

 pretty well superseded, and only used for sea-fishing. It is very strong 

 at first, but does not keep well, and is apt to get brittle and break 



