508 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[JaN. 22, 1885, 
a few minutes when I attracted Jack’s attention by a 
_ motion of the hand and a signal to keep still. We hild our 
breaths, there was a cock ruffed grouse coming toward us. 
Tt was on the side bill and was occasionally hid by the under- 
brush. It mounted a loz and Jooked about, dressed its 
plumage, and once raised its wings in a manner that seemed 
as if it was about to drum, but it did not, and soon after it 
stepped down and was lost in the forest, unconscious that two 
pairs of human eyes had been upon it. I have gone into the 
woods mapy times for the pleasure of creeping through 
thickets and getting a glimpse of forest life when the objects 
of it were ignorant of the presence of one of the tribe of their 
arch enemy. Many a time when I[ have had agun and game 
was my object, have the things I looked for gone unharmed 
when they came before me without their knowing it, and 
my interest in their actions in a state of nature overbalanced 
the desire to kill, Jack’s interest in the bird showed that he 
had something of this feeling, for he hardly winked while it 
was near, After if was gone he drew a long breath, indica- 
tive of suppressed emotion, and asked, ‘‘Whut was that, a 
wild turkey?’ 
“No, Jack, it may have looked as big as a turkey to you, 
no doubt it did, but the seales would show that it would take 
many of them to equal a turkey in weight. It wasa ruffed 
grouse, called partridgein New York and East, and pheasant 
in Pennsylvania and South. It acted as if it was about to 
druni, but this is hardly the time of year for that.” 
“What is drumming?” 
“A call for its mate. The male bird gets on a log, and 
with its wings makes a noise like distant thunder, beginning 
slow, with a noise like ‘bump, bump; it increases the soun' 
until the strokes run together in a long roll. I don’t know 
whether it is made by the wings on the air or by striking the 
sides with them. I was once watching for ducks on a lake 
in Northern Minnesota, when a ‘black partridge,’ a very 
rare bird, drummed on a log within ten feet of me, and I 
watched the performance, which was repeated several times, 
before he went off unharmed.” 
“Why didn’t you shoot it?” 
‘‘Had no desireto. The bird was rare and would have 
gone into the pot, and I preferred to let it go and breed. 
Certainly I never saw it again, never expected to, because 
the chances are all against it; but it was a handsome bird, 
and if it had choice would have preferred to live. 1 think 
the so-called black partridge is not a species, but merely a 
melanistic form of the common ruffed grouse, just as the 
black squirrel is the same as the gray one; in some parts there 
are no lack squirrels and in others there are black and gray 
in one nest, I believe often in one litter.” 
We started on, but this portion of the {rip has been spun 
out so long that if it is of interest I will tell you how we got 
on ib another issue of FOREST AND STRHAM. 
FRED MaTHER. 
SNELLING OR GIMPING HOOKS. 
N reading up the back numbers of Formst AnD STRBAM 
I discovered the inquiry of Mr. H. P. Ufford regarding 
the caption of this letter, and in the last issue of the paper 
“J. W. T.” also asks that anglers throw such light upon the 
operation as experience has taught them, I gladly send my 
contribution, premising that for a score of years and more [ 
-have tied each year “‘dizzens on dizzens” of bass, pile and 
perch hooks, and lake trout gangs for my own use and the 
use of friends and guides, and I do not now remember 
that 1 have had to lament the loss of a fish through the de- 
fective whipping of a hook, It is pleasant work, and during 
the close season, when an angler has to live upon the hope 
of the future and the recollections of the past, many an 
evening can be spent not only pleasantly, but profitably. 
Not to take into the account the satisfaction one has of fish- 
ing with his own handiwork, the angler will secure more fish 
with his home-tied hooks than with those sold at some tackle 
shops. Tackle dealers cannot afford to devote the time to 
tying hooks for the “trade” that an angler will devote to the 
same purpose for hisown use. (ne dealer was frank enough 
to admit this to me. If one orders his hooks tied for him by 
a first-class dealer, and pays the price, they will be all that 
can be desired. 
Last summer, while fishing with a friend for black bass 
he put on anew snell taken from a package bearing the 
name of a wellknown wholesale tackle house. He hada 
bite, struck and found the gut length had pulled out from 
the whipping, I asked if he had soaked the gut before 
baiting, and he said he had. TJ offvred him my tackle book, 
but he wished to try another of his own snells, and declined. 
Jn a moment he Jost another fish in thesame manner, and he 
took my hooks. I examined his snells; the hooks were guod, 
and his gut round and smooth as one could wish. The whip- 
ping lovuked perfect, but I tied them all over in the evening 
and he had no more trouble with them. 
Why straight-shanked hooks are marked and the taper- 
shanked not, { cannot say. I have seen marked hooks used 
like the flattened hooks, ¢. ¢., fastened directly to the line by 
tying the end of the line midway of the shank, and then by 
a series of half hitches ‘‘knittine” the line up to the end of 
the shank, the free end of the line, left over after the knot, 
being confined under the half hitches, This description 
may not be very clear, but I trust fresh-water anglers will 
not be obliged to resort to it. 
One of the most important factors in making a well-tied 
hook is the wax, and this should be white wax, euch as is 
used by fly-tyeis. Owing to the kind offices of a fiy-maker 
Ino louger make my own wax, but when I did I used the 
colorless wax of Mr. H. Cholmondeley-Penuell, which is 
made from the following recipe: 
“Burgundy pitch 120 crains, white resin 60 grains, tallow 
20 grains. Powder and mix the pitch and resin and put into 
an oven in a pipkin, When melted add the tallow and stir 
all together Let the mixture stand twelve hours.” 
The following, which I cut from the English Fishing Ga- 
zette. | have never tried, but it reads gocd: 
“Take 2 ounces of the best resin and } ounce of beeswax, 
simmer together in a pipkin for ten minutes, add + ounce of 
tallow, continue to simmer for fifteen minutes, then pour 
the mass into a basin of water and work it with the fingers 
until it is perfectly pliable.” ? 
Pure beeswax is of no carthly account in tying hooks. 
The wax that | gct from my friend the fly-maker is fully as 
adhesive as shoemaker’s wax, is never brittle and always 
clean. In tying hooks to silkworm gut always use ‘-A” 
silk, Iuse red, but the color is of little moment, for when 
the whipping is completed the color is lost under sheliac. 
If the wax is not used frvquently it may become a trifle 
hard, but this will be overcome by working between the 
finsers. For the tackle trunk or tackle book only a small 
bit is required and is nicely kept in a piece of an old kid 
glove. I suppose no one will use anything but the best 
smooth, round gut, free from flat places, free from metallic | 
glitter, and free from a. harshness that is discovered by pass- 
ing the gut length between one’s fingers. When the gut is 
selected cut off the imperfect ends and place it in tepid 
water until it is thoroughly soaked and soft, then tiv the end 
loop by doubling one end of the sut length and making a 
common knot in the doubled portion. 
The hooks can now be tied on while the gut is soft—this 
is what I did for many years, and do now, occassionally—or 
the gut may, by making a knot in one end and using a pin 
in the loop, be stretched on a board to dry and then ticd. 
The whipping is the same in either case, butif the gut is 
whipped after it is dry, the parts to be covered by the silk 
must be nicked or dented, which is done between the teeth, 
care being taken not to bite so hard as to split the gut. I 
find that the whipping is equally secure whether the gut is 
either wet or dry. Another thing I haye found made no dif- 
ference, that is, whether the whipping began at the end of 
the shank and extended toward the bend of the hook or wiee 
versa. From tying reénforced snells, [have got into the 
habit of beginning the rounding at the end of the shank; but 
as Talways fasten the silk with an invisible knot, there is 
little danger of a fish cutting the knot with its teeth, as has 
been claimed they will do, A snelJ is quite apt to become 
weak or even break just at the end of the shank from con- 
tact with it. Some shanks terminate in a veritable point; 
‘such I cut off witha pair of cutting pliers and then file 
smooth with a fine file, but all hooks larger than No. 3 Dub- 
lin, Limerick (O’Shaughnessy) I ‘‘reénforce” by making the 
gut double for half or three-quarters of an inch above the 
end of shank. The easier way to do this is to make a long 
loop with 2 common knot similar to the loop made for at- 
taching the snell to the leader, If one’s gut lengths will not 
warrant this appropriation, ashort piece of gut may be 
wound onto the shank with the snell, and the free end of 
the extra piece fastened to the snell with a bit of waxed silk. 
Having gut-lengths, hooks, wax and silk, wax thoroughly 
a piece of silk by holding one end between the teeth and the 
other in the left hand. Holding the hook at the bend between 
the finger and thumb of the Jeft hand, lay the end of the 
waxed silk on the shank a little above the point of the hook 
and take four, five or six turns, according to the size of 
the hook, with the silk around the shank until the end is 
reached, 
Then make three or four turns of the silk close together, 
just at the ends, so as to completely cover it, as a cushion or 
shield against the wear of the stecl, should it come in direct 
contact with the gut. These first few turns of the silk 
mike a spiral ridge around the shank which acts like the 
marks ou the straight shanks when using soaked gut, and 
with dry gut act in combination with the dents made with 
the teeth to prevent the steel and gut pulling apart. 
When the end of the shank is covered, lav the gut length 
on the back of the shank and wind the silk closeiy and 
tightly to the point of beginning. Notice the siik as you 
wind to see that it 1s well wuxed, or wax as occasion de- 
mends. When the starting point is reached lay the free end 
of the silk on the winding with the end toward the end of 
shank, which makes a loop in the silk, then take the slack 
of the loop and continne winding for three or four turns, but 
wind over the free end of silk. The following diagram will 
show the manner: 
A A, free end of sil turned back on winding. Take 
slack of loop at Band wind over silk, A A. Then take free 
end of silk and draw tight and cut off closely. When the 
winding or whippise is finished it will be found that the 
wax his been equevzrd to the outside of the silk hy the pres- 
sure in winding, This must be rubbed smvoth with finger 
and thumb, when it will appear that the silk is nicely coated 
with the wax. With a camel’s hair brush go over the wind- 
ing with orange shellac and put aside to dry until the alcohol 
evaporates, leaving a smooth coating of shellac over the silk 
and wax. It may be necessary to renew the shellac after a 
time, but one will have had so much fishing with hooks tied 
in this manner before it is necessary, that it will be done 
with thanks for past services. 
Hooks are tied to gimp in the same way as above described, 
except black linen thread is used instead of silk, and the 
Joop in the end of the gimp snell must be made oy winding 
the doubled parts instead of tying. 
Snelled hooks onght not to be used until softened in water 
any more than a leader should. Hooks should always be 
filed at the points with a smull file; this I du to every hook 
[ use, whetuer a fly-hook or hook on gut or gimp. [ have 
touchrd up the same hook with a file two or three times in 
a day's fishing, and it puys, too. 
Some one recently said something in your columns about 
staining gimp. Gimp that I have gotten out from Eneland 
was stained, but 1 never discovered that it had any merit 
over bright silver gimp, Pike, 2. ductus, are, seemingly, 
not particular about a shade of color, and I have never uscd 
gimp for other fish. If “H. P. U.” and “J. W. T.” will 
tie th.ir hooks in the manner I have described, I feel eont- 
dent that they will have no reason to deplore the separation 
of hook and gut from de.ective winding. It may be alittle 
presumptuous for me to have given my mode of iying huvoks 
when the experience of my friend Mr Wells was called for, 
but as he never fishes with other than a fly, I ventured from 
cover, A, N. CHEney. 
Gurws Fabris, N. Y¥. 
Editor Fovest and Stream: ron” 
“J.W.T.” wants to know how to fasten hooks securely on 
| Joseph, M 
gutand gimp. He says: ‘Cements with alcohol as asolyent 
are sure to dissolve,” ‘gutta percha is porous,” ete. I think T 
can give him a receipt which will enuble him to makea wax 
that is waterproof and will hold a hook of any kind until : 
the snood breaks, The mode uf preparation is as follows: — 
Gef a common jum pot, and to two ounces of the best yellow 
rosin in powder, add one drachm of white beeswax sliced in 
minute pieces. Place the jar in asancepan of boiling water, 
taking care that no water getsin the jar, Stir thoroughly 
with a stick when melted. Add two and a half drachms of 
lard (without salt), und let the whole remain ten mivutes, 
stirring it the while. Pourit into cold water, and while 
warm pull and knead it, to give it toughness, until nearly 
cold. Witha pair of greased scissors cut it into twelve 
balls, Give vleven of these balls to your fri nds; the one 
which you keep for your own use will last you a year or 
more. Keep the wax in a cellar or other cool place. Extra 
heavy salmon gut makesa good snood. Soakit in warm 
water, bite the end flat for a distance of three-eighths of an 
inch. Tie on with heavy sewing silk well waxed. When 
Winding on the silk he careful to draw so tight that the 
wound part shows a glossy surface. This iscaused by the 
Wax oozing through the fibers. If the part thatis wound 
does not show this glossy surface, the work has not been 
properly done, Hither the thread was not waxed aufiiciently 
orit was not drawn tight and kept so until secured. If a 
fine finish is desired, yarnish with shellac dissolved’in alco- 
hol. This varnish may or may not hold throughout a whole 
season; it is asmall matter. The wax iy there to stay, and 
will do its work until the snood is worn out, I used this 
wax last season, tying all of my own hooks and a largenum- 
ber for my friends, and I have yet to hear of the first one to 
sive way in the binding. I have never used gimp, but I be- 
lieve it would hold on gimp, as it has never failed to hold on 
to anything with which I have seen it comein contact. It 
can easily be removed from the hands by Ee soap and 
warm water, . Lmoronp. 
NorRISTOWN, Pa., Jan. 17. 
HOOKS ON GIMP. 
WN a recent issue Mr, H. P, Ufford asks for information 
regarding the tying of the snell to the hook and the best 
material for the purpose, 
Il am nota fisherman in the common acceptation of the 
term, and yet I enjoy a day along the stréams catching 
nothing. I fully agree with vour correspondent, ‘‘Pile,” in 
saying that common shoemaker’s wax is the best ordinarily 
obiainable for the purpose. To tie take saddler's silk, any 
color, and wax thoroughly. lf your hook has been hammered 
into a flat head, cut it off by means of a file. Take the 
hook between the forefinger and thumb of the left hand, 
the point of the hook from and the shank toward yourself. 
Put the end of the waxed silk at the top of the shank of the 
hook, or very near it; then begin io wind at the hand—the 
left hand near the curve of the hook—winding over the 
thread which was placed at the top of the shank, and wind- 
ing evenly along the shank. When wilhin about three turns 
of the top, lay the gimp or gut along the shank of the hook 
and toward your own person from the piece of wrapping 
silk that you have covered (this may, perhaps, be made 
clearer by taking a hook and holding it between the thumb 
and forefinger of the left hand, keeping the top of the 
shank up and the point of the hook away from the body). 
If you use gut, dip itin boiling hot water while you are 
wrapping tbe hook as above. Then wrap from the top of 
the hook over the gut and the previously wrapped hook, 
drawing your silk tight as you proceed, and observing to 
keep the wrappings close together, and to rewax the silk as 
it may be removed by the leat and the frielion of the hand. 
When within a half-dozen turns of the bottom of what has 
been already wrapped, throw the silk along the shank of the 
hook toward your body from the covered gut, Ivaving a 
loop with which to complete the wrapping; this will 
cover a part of the thread and lcave you an end that you 
catch and draw tight. Thus you have no knot in the whole 
affair. 
It is very difficult to describe this matter in words. Ten 
minutes with a fisherman or an old sailor will show H, P; U. 
more of what I mean than pages of print 
As regards gut, fine gut is very bard to get; most is 
scraped. Usually it can be detectid by its frayed appear- 
ance, but I have known old fishermen deceived, A hook 
tied as I have mentioned will never pull off, but frequently 
they become worn. In such case a very good course is to 
paint them with genuine pine tree tar, and ht it dry. If this 
canvot be done rub them with shormaker’s wax. 
Gimp is usually silk covered with brass wire. The best 
gimp |’ve ever been able to procure was a bass violin string, | 
They cost, but they are strong, and may be fasiined ag 
ubuve. Oue trouble with gimp is that the metallic winding 
of the gimp will, throush contact with the steel huok, gever- 
ate maguetic currents and speedily rot the gut, or so corrode 
the shanks of the hcok as to render the fastening ineffective. 
This is especially the case in salt water, or in water contain- 
ing any greut amount of any mineralmatter. The following 
varnish may be of benefit tu others beside Mr. U.: 
AicObol (Absolute). thes sesce vs oe <= dy epaulaaes 6 parts 
Gumestiellae 2 LAS. Fon aoons aa asa) eulOe; 8 peris 
Gum Benjamin (or benzoin).... ... -..-. ...--5. i part 
Keep ina warm place fora fortnight before using, and 
apply to hooks, gimp or gut before tying, allowing time for 
the varnish to dry, ’ 
There is a knot—but itis not applicable to tying guts or 
hooks—so simple and of so frequent use that I give if here: 
Take two pieces of anything that will tie for practice, of 
pack thread or twine, place them parallel to cach other, 
make a simple knot, single, with the one next you, around the 
other, and with the one furthest from you around the first, 
then draw them together. Jf you want the kuot very strong, 
draw within a feurth inch of each other, and wrap the inter- 
vening space with waxed silk. AMATEUR, 
SOMERSET, Pa, 
A BuLust mw A Bass.—In the Forest AnD STREAM of 
Jan. 1 you have an article headed “Injutiesto Tront,”in which 
you say, ‘a clean cut easily heals but a bruise will not.” 
While camping out several years ago, enjoying a very suc- 
cessful fish in St. Mary’s Reservoir, Olio, 1 was preparing 
some bass for our supper, when, scaling a pound and a half 
bass, I noticed an indentation on the back about half way 
between the back fin and the tail; when I cut the fish down 
the back, as I always do for frying, I founda small bullet 
or buckshot imbedded in the flesh perfer tly healed wver, aud. 
the fiesh around not at ali discolored. Did you or any of 
my brother fishermen ever have a similar oase?—Jay (St. 
a. 
7 
0.) : 
