174 TROUT FISHING 



and become rough and opaque by usage, which 

 gut most inconveniently does on the contrary, it 

 re tains/ in spite of the contact of the worm and 

 friction from various causes, its same bright, 

 smooth, glistening appearance, and is thus much 

 less easily seen when in the water. There are 

 other little points of advantage, which in its 

 application the fisherman will discover ; I need 

 not detain him with these. By using only two 

 links of horsehair with some six or eight of gut, 

 you will have a collar strong enough for all proper 

 usage, and with which you may begin to fish with- 

 out difficulty. A long collar of hair alone is rather 

 a ticklish thing to deal with at first, though with 

 practice it will answer perfectly well. The gut 

 used above the horsehair does no harm, as it will 

 be principally out of water, and is of course ad- 

 vantageous in point of strength. It is well to dye 

 this gut by putting it in a little green tea, or ink 

 and water. The entire length of the collar should 

 be about two feet short of the rod used, and the 

 end of the line should be free to run with the 

 collar attached easily through the loop and rings 

 of the rod. The rod itself, I think, need not be 

 other than the ordinary fly rod you would select 

 for the stream you may want to fish, provided you 

 are wading ; indeed I change often from the fly 

 to the worm and vice versa in the same day with 

 the same rod. It is more convenient to have a 

 second rod carried by a servant who can be trusted; 

 it is always at hand, and economizes time con- 

 siderably. For the larger streams, a light springy 



