FOREST AND STREAM 
105 
... 
I WORDS TO BEGINNERS 
T HE following suggestions are modestly 
set forth in the hopes of being service¬ 
able to amateurs and others whose 
time is more limited to actual fishing than 
the careful, painstaking study required to 
get just the right equipment best fitted to 
seduce the wily trout, even under adverse 
conditions. The writer’s many years’ prac¬ 
tice on the streams after wild trout, in addi¬ 
tion to the innate habit of study during 
the frequent evolutions in the craft, induce 
him to describe his own methods with 
greater confidence, and because he has 
been, and still is, open to learn, to dig into 
any new, up-to-date idea he sees of advan¬ 
tage to our favorite sport. 
_ The Rod. 
N O matter whether his pocket be stout 
or slim, every trout fisherman should 
make his best efforts to acquire one 
(or more) of the best rods. It should be 
made to order, or a careful choice that it 
should be a good fit. The absurdity of a 
big fat man giving an order without think¬ 
ing, for a short, slim man’s suit of clothes, 
and parading in it to the enjoyment of his 
friends and enemies, is not a whit more 
foolish than a small man wielding a big, 
heavy rod, or vice versa. 
It is true I began trout fishing (because 
I knew no better) with a long, heavy Eng¬ 
lish rod of solid make. At the end of the 
day I found my wrist swollen and pained. 
That rod was discarded for a first-class, 
light steel rod, which did good service many 
years. However, the still lighter, springier, 
split bamboo rods came in due course. 
A rod well adapted to all forms of fly 
casting can be bought for $20 up. The 
more up you get, the better—in other words, 
$50 is well spent on a good fly rod. When 
making a choice (we suppose you are able 
to cast fairly well) you ask the dealer to 
fit on a reel for proper weight balance. 
Aim more to get firmness, easy action, 
lightness and proper length. Don’t expect 
to land a ten pound fish on a two ounce 
rod, yet if your fishing is confined to the 
capture of finger lings up to ten inches, a 
two or three ounce rod will suffice. 
For a man of average height a rod nine 
foot six is a good fit. For a tall man of 
six foot or over a ten foot rod is none too 
long for a big arm reach. 
For a small man a nine foot rod seems 
to me just right judging from personal ex¬ 
perience. All high priced rods have Ger¬ 
man silver fittings and cork handle, ex¬ 
quisitely finished. The most expensive are 
thus, because of careful artistic finish, the 
perfection of tying and selecting of wood. 
I do both fly and bait casting with the 
same trout rod, and for that reason have 
an agate guide of medium size placed eight¬ 
een inches above cork handle, and another 
at the end tip to facilitate the sliding line 
while casting. The other guides should be 
what are called snake guides. In good 
rods these guides are carefully placed at 
close intervals where the strain is greatest. 
The Line. 
V ERY little space need be taken to 
describe the right trout line for fly 
casting, though much might be said 
on the importance of having a good one. 
Several experts have told me they would 
use nothing but the imported lines, yet the 
domestic American-made line seems to be 
much more popular with the rank and file 
in the craft. Our domestic line makers 
ought to (perhaps do) make such good 
lines as to stop assertions of this kind. Cer¬ 
tainly it is our duty to encourage home 
talent in the competition of high priced 
tackle. 
For fly casting, the only line that gives 
perfect satisfaction is a tapered line—very 
strong, soft and pliable, incapable of kink¬ 
ing, extremely light in weight, and from 75 
to 125 feet in length with a graduated taper 
at both ends to no thicker than stout gut. 
Its durability depends upon its cost, which 
varies from $2.50 to as much as>$i5. 
The cheaper the line, the more frequently 
it should be aired—that is, unwound to be 
thoroughly dried, almost every day; it will 
then live much longer. I frequently give 
my line a coating, by taking a pinch of deer 
fat and running it between finger and 
thumb from the thin end to twenty-five feet 
distance, afterwards using a clean rag to 
wipe it smooth. 
I favor the medium, neither too thick nor 
too thin. If you expect to encounter very 
large fish, the thick line is best. You can 
procure a first class line of many different 
makes, both domestic or foreign, at almost 
every reliable tackle shop. 
So far as casting goes, the difference is 
of negligible quality in river fishing. For 
tournament casting I believe the weight 
and thickness are an important factor, but 
tournament casters are rarely good anglers 
on the stream. Their object in life seems 
only bent on long casts, which is exceed¬ 
ingly bad for trout fishing in more ways 
than one. Your success is always greater 
by getting near the fish and casting as 
short a line as possible. 
Tro^J Leaders of Gut. 
GOOD leader is the most difficult part 
of the angler’s rig to understand and 
choose what is best, and the price 
paid (like that of buying a rod) is the best 
evidence in getting perfection. 
Really good leaders of the best tapered 
gut cost from fifty cents to three dollars 
each. They should be perfectly round from 
top to bottom. The thickness at the loop 
