CHAPTER XXXI. 



TYING HOOKS, REPAIRING RODS, &C. 



" A little learning is a dangerous thing" 



BUT what is here set down, although it may not seem of 

 much importance to those unaccustomed to rig their own tackle, 

 may at some future time, and when they least expect it, be 

 made available. " Accidents will happen in the best regulated 

 families," and so will they to the angler, be he ever so careful. 

 When the tackle maker is not near by to assist, how to help 

 oneself may be a secret worth knowing. 



To tie or whip a hook to Gut or Line. Prepare, by waxing 

 with shoemaker's wax, a piece of strong silk or thread : take 

 your hook in your left hand between your thumb and forefinger, 

 about as high up as the point of the barb or a little higher, as 

 you may fancy ; place the end of your silk under your thumb, 

 take three or four random but firm turns around the shank of 

 the hook until you reach the end (for the purpose of prevent- 

 ing the gut being cut by the hook, and moreover that your gut 

 may stick firmly without the possibility of coming off) ; now 

 lay your gut or line (the inside of the hook, up) on to this 

 winding, holding it with the end of the thumb, and commence 

 whipping it around firmly and closely, occasionally pressing the 

 turns to keep them even ; continue this operation until you get 

 within three or four turns of the finishing point ; in order to 

 fasten firmly give three loose turns, then insert the end of 

 your silk under them, and drawing it through, you have a 

 secure fastening, called the hidden knot. Another method of 

 finishing when you have arrived at the fastening point, is to 

 make two or three half hitch knots : this is done by passing 



