24 PIKE AND OTHER COARSE FISH. 



in securing greater durability ; and I shall hope at a future 

 opportunity to go more fully into this question with reference 

 to a few experiments which I have carried out, but I am 

 satisfied that up to the present time no practical application of 

 either of these dressings has been arrived at, or, at least, made 

 public, which, having regard to the numerous points to be con- 

 sidered, will bear comparison with common 8-plait oiled silk. 



I did go very thoroughly into the experirnents referred to 

 in the above paragraph, but with no result sufficiently satisfac- 

 tory to be worth chronicling in these pages. Indeed, it may 

 freely be admitted, that all the conditions pointed out as neces-- 

 sary in a spinning^line are very fairly fulfilled by the ordinary 

 8-plait dressed silk lines to be bought at all the tackle shops. 

 As regards the dressing used by different makers and amateurs, 

 ' as many men so many opinions.' 



Here, however, is the receipt for this oil dressing which is 

 adopted by a well-known and experienced fisherman : — 



Take three teaspoonfuls of sweet oil, of bees' wax and dark resin 

 a piece of each the size of a walnut ; bruise the resin, cut the wax 

 in pieces, and then put oil, wax, and resin into a small pipkin, and 

 let it simmer before the fire till the whole is in a liquid state. Then 

 dip your trolling-line into the hot mixture and let it remain a 

 minute ; then take it out and hang it up to dry, which will take 

 two or more days to do ; when quite dry it will be waterproof, 

 stronger, and last much longer than when dressed with anything 

 else that I am acquainted with. Next in value I consider wax-candle 

 well rubbed on and into lines. 



The following, for 'varnish dressing,' is from a practical 

 fisherman, whose method has been highly approved of: — 



Mix (cold) copal varnish and gold size, in the proportion of ten 

 parts of the former to one part of the latter. Soak the line in this 

 dressing for, say, a couple of days, the jar in which it is placed 

 being air-tight. Then stretch the line to dry. The line will not be 

 fit to use for three or four weeks. 



Here is another ' receipt for waterproofing lines,' taken from 

 'Chitty's. Fly-fishing Text-book' : I have never, tried it, but on 



