80 SALMON AND TROUT. 
form of the ring gives it these undeniable advantages over the 
old pattern, whether upright or movable : it can hardly get 
bent ; it cannot practically get broken ; it cannot stick in the 
rod bag. 
Z 
- <a 
In thus describing my four favourite fly-rods, I have indi- 
cated in the most practical manner I can the description of rod 
which has appeared to afford, on the whole, the best combina- 
tion of qualities for the different descriptions of fly-fishing. 
The rods especially suitable for lake trolling, worm-fishing, 
salmon spinning &c., &c., will be referred to under the separate 
chapters dealing with those subjects. 
Before taking leave, however, of the subject of rods and 
rod fastenings, I should be omitting a most important item if I 
failed to direct attention to the various improved methods of 
uniting and fixing the rod joints. 
Until the Fisheries Exhibition either called forth, or called 
into public notice, these inventions, joint fastenings may be 
said, so far as any general adoption of them is concerned, to have 
been comprised in three categories. The first, the ordinary 
ferrule joint, in which one joint slips into the other—and it 
may be added, out of it again with considerable regularity 
