Gut, Leaders and Leader Tying 
Leader Lore for the Angler-Craftsman 
UT, sometimes called “cat gut,” 
(; is so named from an abbrevia- 
tion of caterpillar and has 
nothing to do with the feline members 
of the animal kingdom whatsoever. 
Gut was first produced by the Chinese, 
contemporarily with silk and gunpow- 
der in a remote time, from the silk or 
mulberry worm. It has been developed 
productively since then by Japan, Italy, 
France, Portugal and Spain, 
from which latter country 
comes most of the gut that 
reaches the American mar- 
ket. Owing to the high cost 
of labor, gut has been pro- 
duced successfully for the 
trade in the United States. 
Mr. Edwin T. Whiffen has 
been highly successful in pro- 
ducing gut for his own use, 
as told in the pages of FOREST 
Fig.l. 
By HARRY IRWIN 
The larva has four molting seasons 
at each ot which it sheds its old skin 
for a new one, since in the very rapid 
growth of the worm the old skin cannot 
keep pace with the growth of the body. 
The periods between these different 
molts are called “ages” and are five in 
number, the first extending from the 
time of hatching to the end of the first 
molt, and the last from the end of the 
GUT, LEADERS,and LEADER 
Pig.2. 
TYING. 
Pig.5. 
worm is ready to spin its cocoon. At 
this time it is killed and steeped in 
strong chemicals. The silk glands are 
taken from its body and are dexterously 
drawn out and formed between the 
fingers. One gland usually measures 
from twelve to fifteen inches. After 
this gut is thoroughly dried it is as- 
sorted into three different grades. The 
most perfect is Selecta. Superior is fair. 
Estraida is poor. These three 
different grades are assorted 
into nine different sizes. 
Refina is the very finest 
produced, as fine as a human 
hair; Fina is fine; Regular is 
medium; Padron 2nd is me- 
dium heavy; Padron 1st is 
heavy; Marana 2nd is extra 
heavy. Marana Ist is extra, 
extra heavy. 
AND STREAM, obtaining the Pig.4. Pig.6 HESE are the regular 
best results from our native x Ed a abe commercial standards for 
» XY S| 
———————— 
Cecropia Moth, from which 
he has drawn single strands A 
6 feet in length. 
HE silkworm has become 



domesticated. During the = 
long centuries in which it has — 
been cultivated it has ac- af ¢ SET By 
quired many useful peculiari- es , 
ties. Besides being used for €eecSanq) | 
the production of silk, the 
silk secretion is also used for 
snells and leaders in the fish- 
ing-tackle industry and for 
surgical purposes. 
Up to this time there has 
been no silk-worm gut pro- 
duced in this country. The 
finest quality is produced in 
Spain, where large communities earn 
their livelihood through this industry. 
The silk moth exists in four states: 
egg, larva, chrysalis, and adult. The 
egg of the moth is nearly round, slight- 
ly flattened and closely resembles a 
turnip seed. When first laid it is yel- 
D. 
low, soon turning a gray or a slate . 
color if impregnated. It has a small 
spot on one end, called the micropyle, 
and when the worm hatches, which in 
our climate is about June Ist, it gnaws 
a hole through this spot, black in color, 
scarcely one-eighth inch in length. Cov- 
ered with long hair, with a shiny nose 
and sixteen small legs, the baby worm 
is born leaving the shell of the egg 
white and transparent. This baby 
worm is fed on tender white mulberry. 
Cc. —— J 
Ga 
cE J 
Fig.6. ¥. 
WY? 
dc 
Pig,i0. Fig,13.- Fig11, 
fourth molt to the transformation of 
the insects into a chrysalis. The time 
between the four molts will be found to 
vary depending upon the species of 
worm. 
F OR a day or two previous to molting 
a dark spot is noticed just above the 
nose. In molting, the skin breaks at 
the nose, the head is pushed out and 
the worm by wriggling and twisting 
gradually works the old skin back from 
segment to segment until it is entirely 
cast off. It then measures about one 
and one-fourth inches and in six days 
grows to two inches in length; in three 
days more it becomes fully three inches 
in length. 
Having attained full growth, the 
| r : 
B grading the gut, but at times 
a few strands of even heavier 
gut are found. Imperial is 
heavier than Marana Ist, and 
Hebra is the heaviest pro- 
duced. Imperial and Hebra 
gut is very scarce and only 
comparatively small quanti- 
ties ever reach this country. 
Now, does it pay to tie 
your own leaders? I should 
say emphatically “yes.” A 
first or “Selecta” grade of 
tapered leader from 6 to 7% 
ft. costs from 50c. to 75c. 
Last year I tied my own lead- 
ers in the above lengths at a 
cost of $1.32 per dozen, which 
amounts to about 11%c. each, 
a saving that I am glad to make, for I 
am far from being a millionaire, in 
fact I am a great deal nearer the other 
end of the line. A difference of 60c. and 
11%c. is worth a lot to most of us. As 
a matter of information, I will quote 
from the catalog of a well-known dealer 
in the following table not only in that 
he is as fair as any with whom I am 
acquainted, but in that he quotes the 
prices upon both Selecta and Superior, 
which is far more than many of our 
leading dealers are prone to do—as I 
have found to my sorrow. 
I presume the reason for this is that 
the gut market is constantly fluctuating, 
and as conditions are so uncertain, fixed 
prices could be quoted only with diffi- 
culty. Hebra prices are seldom printed. 
Page 336 
