Feb. 9, 1907.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
219 
In the Angler’s Workroom. 
I.—Pleasant Employment in the Dull Season. 
With the passing of the winter anglers are 
beginning to make plans for the fishing season 
of 1907. And although the nights are gradually 
growing shorter, it is not until half the winter 
has passed that one feels like settling down to 
doing something with his fishing outfit, when the 
nights are cold and it is so pleasant to stay in¬ 
doors and tinker until bedtime. 
The remarks that follow may be more or less 
stale to veteran anglers, but they know full well 
that beginners search Forest and Stream for in¬ 
formation, and this class is entitled to all the 
1 consideration and encouragement we can give 
them. Even some of the veterans, it 'is hoped, 
may find here a wrinkle or two worth remember¬ 
ing; for in all walks of life we find persons who 
j say they “are not handy” at doing this thing 
i or that, and thereby lose a lot of pleasure. For 
; it is a real pleasure, and a source of lasting satis¬ 
faction as well to any angler to repair his own 
ij tackle, and all through the active season he can 
! make mental notes of the changes which his ex¬ 
perience tells him he should make “next winter.” 
The alterations made are those decided on after 
long consideration, and half the pleasure of ac- 
} complishment would be lost were some one else 
allowed to do the tinkering planned for winter 
pastime. The rod maker can hardly do these 
small jobs, for if minor changes must be made 
by a professional, the chances are they will not 
be made at all, new articles being purchased in¬ 
stead. One cannot as well explain how he wants 
a thing done as to tinker it out himself. And 
the tackle dealer who keeps repair materials 
reaps his profit from these during his dull season. 
The first thing to do is to lay out the entire 
fishing outfit and make a detailed survey and 
inventory. If a new rod is decided on, write 
down its specifications, while your ideas are fresh 
after the season’s fishing. Go over the old rods 
and recall their faults, so that the new one shall 
be different. Then give the order for the new 
one to your rodmaker, so that he may have 
abundant time to fill it before his busy season 
i comes on. You will be much better satisfied 
with the rod he makes for you now than if you 
wait until March before ordering. 
Line Preservatives. 
If fly lines have been left on the reels, take 
them off and wind them in coils five inches or 
more in diameter. If left on the reel an oiled 
silk line will come off in small coils difficult to 
i straighten, and it is a good idea to rub it with 
! deer’s fat, then coil loosely and tie the coil in 
1 three or four places with thread that is easy to 
break when the line is next wanted. Remember 
to rub the line lightly with a clean cloth before 
putting it back on the reel, to take off the sur- 
; plus fat. This treatment softens a dressed line 
and is one of the oldest and best. A good way 
to keep a dressed line straight is to keep it on 
i a wooden disc an inch thick and six to ten inches 
in diameter with a groove cut in its periphery. 
■ Often these are made with the center cut out, so 
that they are merely large rings with grooved 
}t edges. Fly-casters frequently use them in tour¬ 
nament casting, in which case the disc is laid on 
the casting platform and the line with leader 
attached is run through the’ first guide on the 
: rod, and so on to the top. The line comes off 
the disc nicely for fly-casting, and is kept 
, straight, and with a little soaking the leader is 
ready for use. We have seen anglers take their 
places on the casting platform and attempt to 
| use lines that had been closely wound on their 
i reels for a long time, failing, of course, to con- 
| trol their lines, to say nothing of making credit¬ 
able casts. Few anglers now use reels attached 
to their rods in tournament casting, placing disc 
or reel on the platform in front of them instead. 
If one is in the ioo-foot class he knows he will 
not need more than no feet or so, and this 
much is easily handled if coiled loosely on the 
platform, handy to his left hand. 
For raw or waterproofed braided silk bait- 
eating lines the common line-spool is all right, 
but to insure dryness the wire form is better. 
This is an endless wire rectangle with four ears 
bent up to hold the line in place. They cost 
about five cents each and fit nicely in any tackle 
box. 
About all that can be done to preserve the 
braided silk bait-casting line is to keep it dry. 
At the present time the bait-caster has a choice 
of two kinds: the raw and the waterproofed. 
The latter is a hard line and is open to the same 
objections as an oiled line on the free running 
reel; both will backlash badly, as they spring 
ROCKFISH KILLED ON THE ROD. 
Weight 47 ibs. Taken at Nassau, B. I., by F. M. Shedd. 
off the spool in coils, like wire. Attempts have 
been made to waterproof raw silk lines without 
rendering them wiry or hard, but so far entirely 
satisfactory results have not been attained. I 
have an idea, based on experiments with other 
solutions, that paraffin dissolved in spirits of 
turpentine and applied while hot by immersing 
the line in it, will improve braided raw silk lines 
without rendering them stiff, but it may be that 
this, like paraffin-benzine, will wear off in time. 
The present gossamer-like casting lines have so 
little body that it is hard to fill the line with 
any substance that will not quickly wear off. 
Possibly a third agent, like copal varnish or 
some oil or substance soluble in turpentine, but 
which will serve to prevent the wax from dry¬ 
ing out and wearing off, and which will not 
harden the line perceptibly, might be intro¬ 
duced. Improvements along this line are needed. 
In Mary Orvis Marbury’s “Favorite Flies,” 
Russell Robinson, a Virginian, says that small 
casting lines can be improved by soaking them 
in a solution of paraffin and benzine, then hang 
them up for twenty-four hours to dry. He calls 
this semi-waterproofing, but claims that a line 
so treated will cast further and last longer than 
any other. The bottle containing the solution 
and line is placed in hot water, and the line is 
not taken out until the water cools, in order 
that all the wax possible may be soaked into the 
line. After the line has dried, rub with a cloth 
and chamois skin. 
This treatment I tried repeatedly before I 
happened to read of it in Mrs. Marbury’s splen¬ 
did book. It has merit, but as stated, it soon 
wears off a line so small as the tournament size 
raw braided silk. If, however, the angler keeps 
the solution handy in a wide-mouth bottle, and 
does not mind a little trouble, immersing the 
line occasionally will keep it in good condition. 
There is something in spirits of turpentine com¬ 
bined with paraffin that renders a line soft, waxy 
and waterproof for a time, and if properly soaked 
and dried, the method should render the line 
more durable, even if it will not float after con¬ 
siderable wear, as it will at first. 
If you have never used a line-dryer, now is 
the time to begin. No line can be depended on 
which is left on the reel over night . without 
drying. A raw silk line of good quality costs 
from one to four dollars for a hundred yards, 
and few anglers can afford to let their lines rot, 
for they cannot tell what minerals are in the 
water fished. If you do not fancy the handy 
folding dryers sold in the trade, coil the wet 
line loosely in your hat or in a pan, if you are 
in camp, putting the receptacle where it will not 
be turned over and the line snarled. In the 
morning wind it back on the reel. Never dry 
a raw silk line in the sun. The folding dryers 
are best, for the line can be left on one over 
night where the air can dry it to the core. 
Receptacles for Odds and Ends. 
In what shape do you keep your loose hooks, 
sinkers, box swivels, trolling and casting spoons, 
artificial minnows, etc. ? The neat little boxes 
these come in are all right, but if one has. many, 
they are bulky enough to fill a suit case instead 
of the usual tackle box. A good plan is to 
put in the tackle box the reels, lines, etc.., cus¬ 
tomarily taken on a fishing, trip, then fill in the 
remaining space with the sliding top wood boxes 
baits come in. Lay away all boxes not needed 
and put several baits in each box retained. 
Each variety in a separate box will simplify 
matters. The small spinners and casting spoons 
go nicely in little envelopes to be tucked in 
corners of the tackle box, loose hooks in other 
envelopes, snelled hooks in a box by themselves. 
A small tin tobacco box is handy for odds and 
ends like sinkers, swivels, small spool of silk, 
wax and cement. Leaders should be kept in a 
round aluminum soak-box fitted with felt pad. 
The Redditch trade supplies celluloid and other 
semi-transparent cases of various shapes and 
sizes for artificial lures, at so much per dozen. 
These are so cheap one can afford a number 
of them of various shapes. Artificial lures kept 
in them are entirely free from rust, and better 
still, from the tangling that is inevitable when 
many devices with hooks attached are kept to¬ 
gether. Besides these qualities, one can see what 
is in each envelope without opening it, an im¬ 
mense advantage when he is in a hurry to change 
lures. Several years ago • a member of a local 
celluloid novelty house secured patents in the 
United States on articles of this sort, and ever 
since then the writer has annoyed him semi-oc- 
casionally to know when he could purchase some 
of the lure envelopes, but so far the reply has 
always been that these longed-for articles are 
“not auite ready for the market.” 
A file, a small bottle of the best reel oil, or 
better, one of the ten cent metal oil tubes; two 
small pliers, one with flat and the other round 
jaws; and a screw driver (for reels) should be 
in every tackle box. With this equipment the 
angler has a complete repair outfit in his kit, 
and can change artificial baits to suit conditions 
as he finds them, ashore or afloat. 
Hooks and Lures. 
An assortment of eyed flies is handy, too, for 
the bait-caster. When bass are taking feathered 
