GUT AND CASTING LINES. 39 
THE ‘HENRY’ FLY BOX. (Farlow.) 
Intended for gut flies. Japanned black outside, white enamel inside, with 
wires across for attaching flies, and at the end to hold the gut; also piece 
of spongio piline to keep the gut moist for attaching to the casting line. 
Length, 9 inches ; width, 33 inches; depth, 3 inch; weight 84 oz. 
A box with a similar object has been designed by Messrs. 
F. T. Williams, of Great Queen Street, W.C., in which the 
gut is kept moist by means of wetted felt. 
Next to the fly and its etceteras comes the Casting Line, 
involving matters connected with the selection, knotting, twist- 
ing, staining, &c: of gut.1 The best gut is the longest and 
roundest, and the most transparent; an observation which 
applies equally to salmon and trout gut—natural and drawn. 
For practical purposes these destderata must be considered in 
conjunction with, if not, indeed, made subordinate to, the 
question of the fineness or strength of the gut in proportion to 
the fishing for which it is to be used. To get salmon gut 
which fulfils all the conditions pointed out is becoming yearly 
a matter of greater difficulty, and, I might almost say, of favour. 
A perfect hank of salmon gut can only be obtained, as a rule, 
by picking the strands out of a number of other hanks, which, 
of course, makes these considerably less valuable. Sixpence a 
strand—I have known a shilling a strand paid—for picked 
salmon gut is not at all an unusual or, indeed, unreasonable 
1 An account of the process of gut manufacture is given in the earlier 
editions. 
