I 3 2 THE FINE ART OF FISHING 



resort may be had to amputation. In the case of the 

 average fly-rod, consisting of three joints and from nine 

 to ten feet long, at least one inch should be removed 

 from each joint; to further insure successful results it 

 might be well to put on additional windings. The re- 

 sulting difference in the action of the rod is very great, 

 while the loss of weight is so slight as to be negligible. 



In this connection it should be added that winding 

 the rod entirely from end to end, called solid winding, 

 should not be done. At first glance, considering the 

 fact that additional windings stiffen the rod, one would 

 naturally conclude that the solid wound rod is a very 

 stiff one. This is not the case, however. Solid wound 

 rods tend to be soft rather than otherwise and the 

 method is not approved or followed by the best rod 

 makers. 



The angler whose ambition lies along the line of 



distance casting will find that he can easily lengthen out 



his average casting by replacing the ring- 



and-keeper guides with which his rod is 

 Guides. - .11 



fitted with the now more popular and 



far more efficient English snake guides. The old- 

 fashioned ring-and-keeper guides are not very well 

 adapted to shooting the line, the loosely working ring 

 and its generally small aperture causing too much fric- 

 tion. The snake guide, as in the case of much fly-tackle, 

 is an English idea. Their stability and line shooting 

 adaptability are far in advance of the ring guides, and, 

 moreover, the snake guides measurably facilitate string- 

 ing-up the rod and are less liable to become bent out 

 of shape. Of the snake guides those of steel are best. 



