CHAPTER XII.

SILK-WORM GUT.

"But if you can attain to angle with one hair,-you shall have more rises, and catch more fish."-IZAAK WALTON.

THE material of which leaders and snells are composed is a mystery to many anglers. It is eminently fitted for the purposes mentioned, being as nearly invisible as any substance can well be, and at the same time is quite strong and impermeable to water.

It is really the "fluid silk" of the silk-worm, drawn out into a continuous length. This fluid silk, which in its natural state resembles colorless varnish, is contained in long cylindrical sacks, many times the length of the worm, and which are capable of being unfolded by immersion in water, and the fluid silk can be drawn out into threads, longer or shorter, coarse or fine, as may be desired.

Mr. Wm. Gray, of Davenport, Iowa, in an article in the Forest and Stream, gives some very interesting information concerning the process of drawing out the threads, which, to many anglers, will be new. He says:

In all my reading I have never seen a sentence in reference to that most essential article to the sportsman angler, viz.: silk-worm gut; what it was and how prepared. I know that many skillful fishers know nothing about where it comes from. Others think that because it is called silk-worm gut, therefore it is the intestines of the silk-worm, just as catgut (violin strings) are made from the

intestines of a cat (?) or a sheep, after the mucous membrane has been removed from it. But such is not the case. It is true that it comes from the inside of the silk-worm, but it is not what we would

call the gut.

More than forty years ago I was curious to know what this article was, but not until within four years ago did I ascertain. Inside of the silk-worm there are two lobes or sacs lying together, somewhat like the two lobes of eggs in a fish. When these lobes are fully developed they consist of a viscid fluid, and if the worm were allowed to live this would all be spun out of its mouth as a cocoon of silk. But if silk-worm gut is wanted, the worms are taken when the lobes are mature (or ripe, as they term it,) and thrown into strong vinegar for about two hours. The effect of this immersion in vinegar kills the worms, makes the external part of their bodies very tender, and thickens the fluid in the lobes into a soft, tough pulp.

The next process is to remove it from the vinegar and remove the outer part carefully, and one at a time, these lobes are caught by the thumb and finger by the ends, with each hand, and stretched apart to the length required, and given two or three twists around a small pin placed in each end of a frame, where they remain till dry enough to be bunched up ready for market. That this is the way that gut is finished we have some evidence by examining a thread of it in the bunch as commonly sold. At each end you will see where it has been twisted around the pin, and beyond that, where the piece held in the fingers has been stripped out, which is usually flat.

That there are other insects than the common silk-worm (how many I do not know) who have this lobe of fluid matter that is utilized into fishing gut I am satisfied. More than forty years ago I got a quantity of gut (how or from whom I do not remember), but it was different from any I had ever seen before or since. It was heavy and long. Some of the threads were nearly three feet, perfect in smoothness and equal in thickness, and as thick as good salmon gut. The color, however, differed from the ordinary gut, being brown-colored, as if soaked in tea, but I am satisfied it was the natural color. I still have a few threads of it in my tacklebook, which have been there about forty-five years. I have just

looked at them, and find that the longest yet remaining is twentythree and a half inches; a good, clear thread; one of the lightest of the lot.

About as long ago as I can remember there was an article sold called sea-weed, which was used by fly-fishers. It was from three to four feet in length, round, smooth, and tapered from the root to the point, but was not reliable as to its strength. I have not seen any of it for nearly fifty years past.

The long and heavy gut to which Mr. Gray alludes, is, possibly, the product of one of our native silk-worms, as Dr. T. Garlick, of Bedford, Ohio, one of the fathers of pisciculture in the United States, states that he has drawn silk gut from four to six feet long, sufficiently strong for Salmon fishing, from the larva of the Attacus cecropia, the largest of our native silk-worms.

Dr. Garlick describes the process, in the Forest and Stream, as follows:

I have drawn silk gut not only from the Attacus cecropia and A. polyphemus, but also from the Italian silk-worm. I have never killed the worm, nor put it in vinegar for this purpose, which may be the best method. Soon after the larva ceases to feed he begins to spin his cocoon, which is the right time to draw the silk gut. I pin the worm to a board, putting one pin in his caudal extremity, and another pin about one-third of his length back from his head. I then, with a sharp knife, cut off the forepart of the worm far enough back to cut off a very little of the sac containing the silk, which is a fluid of about the consistency of the white of an egg. I then take a large pin, and dipping it into the fluid silk, which adheres to the pin, I draw out the silk slowly (the more slowly the larger will be the gut), until I have drawn out all, or nearly all, of the silk contained in the sacs. I then take another pin, and attach it to the other extremity of the gut, at the point where I divided the worm. The two pins are then stuck into a board, drawing the gut taut, which soon becomes hard and fit for use. The fluid silk

hardens to some extent immediately on coming in contact with the air.

LEADERS, OR CASTING LINES.

The silk-worm gut imported into the United States, and used for leaders and snells, is usually in short lengths of from twelve to fifteen inches. In forming leaders, these are knotted together to the desired length. There are many grades of gut, and the angler will do well to remember that the best is the cheapest.

Black Bass leaders should be from six to nine feet long, and composed of the best single Spanish silk-worm gut, heavy and strong, hard and round. The gut lengths should be perfectly clear and sound, quite smooth, and without inequalities or rough places. The rod-end of the leader should be composed of a large-sized gut, the next length a trifle smaller, and so diminish by a gradual taper to the fly-end. The several lengths should be neatly and firmly knotted together by what is technically known as the double water-knot. The ends should be cut off closely; or, if the single water-knot is used, the ends should be first wrapped with silk, waxed and varnished, and then cut off neatly and closely.

It should be remembered that it is necessary to soak and soften the ends of the gut-lengths previous to tying. The water-knot, if correctly tied, can be easily slipped apart and the snell of a fly inserted, when it is to be securely drawn together again, the snell having a knot tied on the end to prevent its pulling out; but more of this

anon.

Some leaders are now made with loops for attaching the