TRENT FISHING. 25 



kinds of rings that will more or less prevent this, and the 

 two best are what are known as the " Bell's Life " ring and 

 the " Wire Guard Safety " ring. This latter is a first-class 

 ring for the lower joints of the rod ; indeed, an old friend 

 of mine says that he likes them better than the " Bell's Life" 

 rings, although these latter are more expensive. This " Wire 

 Guard Safety " ring cannot be better described than in the 

 words of my little boy, " rings with legs to them." Yes, that 

 is just it, the sides come straight down from the top and form 

 two legs, which straddle, as it were the rod ; and then at the 

 end of these two legs there are well, feet, one turned up and 

 the other down the rod, one on each side. These two sides 

 are capital preventives of the line hitching. (I might just 

 mention that the two feet of this ring, as just described, are for 

 the purpose of whipping the ring to the rod.) The " Bell's 

 Life " safety ring is also a first-class ring for the lower joints 

 of a rod. It is generally made of white metal, and is of 

 rather a peculiar shape, having two long sides soldered to a 

 plain stoutish ring, one on each side, with the ring in the 

 middle. The sides are then bent downwards, and the ends 

 are flattened out and shaped so that they will nicely fit the 

 rod (these ends are whipped to the rod). When this ring is 

 in its proper position, the sides are parallel with the rod, and 

 the ring itself stands fair between these two sides, with the 

 bottom edge just touching the rod, and straight across, so 

 that the line can be threaded perfectly straight through from 

 the reel upwards. This ring is generally put on the very 

 best Nottingham rods, and is a ring that I very much admire, 

 although I cannot say that it is a very great improvement on 

 the Wire Guard Safety ring. However, the angler can 

 please himself, and will not be far out, let him have which 

 sort he likes. I have been very particular in my descrip- 

 tion of these rings, because, since the first edition of this 

 work was printed, I have had scores of letters from anglers 

 all over the kingdom, asking me what is the best ring, and 

 also reminding me that this book would be much more valu- 

 able to the amateur if I paid particular attention to these 

 little matters. I might just say a word or two about the 

 reel fittings of a rod. So-called improvements are being so 



