SECRETS OF THE SALMON 



the water. These effects are not similar to any 

 natural phenomena along the river, as there are no 

 insects or plants which make light effects of this 

 form. It is probably for this reason that leaders 

 frighten salmon so easily. Why the difference of 

 a few thousandths of an inch in diameter of a 

 leader should make so much difference it is hard 

 to comprehend, but watching the leaders in the 

 tank showed that leaders smaller than .012-inch 

 diameter were much less visible. It must be only 

 a matter of degree, and experience has taught me- 

 that I can raise salmon on the fine leaders when it 

 is impossible to do so with leaders of even .12-inch 

 diameter. Let any one who questions this expe- 

 rience try it out on the salmon river with leaders 

 carefully gauged and he will soon convince himself. 

 White gut acted as a better light condenser than 

 the stained gut and made bright flashes on the 

 water. The dark mist-stained gut proved the 

 least visible of any I had been using, but even this 

 seemed to act somewhat as a lens and to make 

 some light flashes. It then occurred to me to try 

 to make the gut opaque and less shiny. To do 

 this I soaked white gut in a solution of silver ni- 

 trate and then exposed it to light to turn the silver 

 into minute grains of black metallic silver. This 



[ 60 ] 



