FLY-FISHING FOR TROUT 9/ 



good anglers like their gut for snells and leaders 

 stained a mist color (a bluish dun), and this you can 

 do before stretching with the following stain : — 



In a teacupful of hot water — nearly boiling — 

 drop a piece of copperas (sulphate iron), and set 

 that aside. Now take a piece of extract of log- 

 wood about the size of a bean, and dissolve it in 

 another teacupful of hot water ; add to this a good 

 pinch of carbonate of soda (saleratus), placing the 

 gut into a bowl sufficient to hold the two cups of 

 solution, and pouring the dissolved logwood over it. 

 Let it soak for fifteen minutes, till the gut has 

 attained a faint but decided crimson color. Then 

 add the copperas solution all at once (not pouring 

 slowly), and keep the gut moving for fifteen min- 

 utes longer. Then take out and wash with cold 

 water. The result is a neutral dark tint, which 

 renders the gut invisible on dull days, but is not, 

 I think, the best for bright, clear, sunny days. 



The gut is best dyed after tying, as the stain 

 seems to render it less easy and smooth to tie ; 

 but the point is trivial and need not be insisted on. 



The length of the snell is commonly four and a 

 half inches in American fly-making ; but English- 

 men tie their flies on the whole strand, which is 



