April, 1918 
FOREST AND STREAM 
215 
highest. A rod purchased in this manner 
may have a rather high first cost but it will 
outlast many cheaper rods and will be a 
source of continual pleasure when using it. 
The only substance that is considered 
nowadays in making dry fly rods is the 
best grade of split bamboo, which comes 
from Calcutta. I do not propose to de¬ 
scribe the manufacture of a fishing rod 
from the split bamboo to the finished arti¬ 
cle (although an article on fishing has 
hitherto been considered incomplete with¬ 
out such a description) for two reasons: 
The first is, that I am not a manufac¬ 
turer of fishing rods and I could not de¬ 
scribe the work except by hearsay, and 
the second is that such a description is 
usually to be found in the catalogs of 
fishing tackle makers. However, there are 
certain things about a rod that I can write 
about with some degree of authority, hav¬ 
ing used rods for over 30 years. 
The best length of a rod for dry fly fish¬ 
ing is 9 feet and 6 inches. A quarter of 
a century ago rods of 10J/2 to n feet were 
being used and in exceptional cases some 
men used single handed rods of 12 feet; 
but the gradual improvement in rods has 
enabled rods of the shorter length first 
mentioned to accomplish as much as re¬ 
gards distance cast, as was done by the 
older and longer rods. 
It is not possible to get the weight of a 
dry fly rod of nine and a half feet length 
much below 6 oz. and this reduction of 
weight takes into consideration every pos¬ 
sible reduction of metal consistent with 
maintaining the necessary power for a dry 
fly rod. Extensively beautiful rods of 9^4 
feet can be made that will weigh much 
less than 6 oz. but they will not stand up 
long under the 
severe work of 
dry fly fishing. 
There must be 
plenty of cane 
along the butt 
and middle sec¬ 
tion of the rod 
but the tip must 
be tapered down 
to a very small 
diameter, to per¬ 
mit the use of 
the fine pointed 
leaders used in 
dry fly work. A 
rod that tapers 
from the butt to 
the tip on an 
even taper will 
not make a good 
dry fly rod as 
the middle sec¬ 
tion will not 
have enough 
cane in it. 
The so called 
' >5 Scotch taper 
gives the best re¬ 
sults. In this, the rod tapers from the butt 
evenly up to a short distance from the tip, 
and then tapers more rapidly to the fine 
tip. Such a rod will have ample cane 
along the middle section (where most of 
the work is done) and yet have an ex¬ 
tremely fine sensitive tip. 
I prefer perfectly fitting suction joints 
because of the gain in weight at this point 
as compared with the "lockfast” joints 
with which some rods are furnished. I 
used “lockfast” joints for a number of 
years; but the last rod I had made was 
made with suction joints and has given 
me satisfaction. 
The lowest 
guide should be 
an agate guide, 
likewise the tip 
but I do not be¬ 
lieve the extra 
weight of agate 
guides through¬ 
out the entire 
length of the rod 
i s compensated 
for but the 
greater ease in 
“shooting” a line 
through agate 
guides. One only 
shoots a line 
when one is making an extra long cast 
and I find no difficulty in “shooting’ with 
the combination of agate butt and tip guides 
and ordinary “snake” or “bridge” guides in 
the intermediate positions. 
The Agate Tip if provided with side 
guides as shown at Fig. 2 prevents the line 
from getting twitched around the tip as 
frequently happens when casting a long line 
in a high wind. 
The handle of the rod should be made 
large enough to be comfortable to the 
owner of the rod, and it is advisable to 
caliper the dimensions of a handle that 
does fit well, and have any future rods 
made with handles of the same size. 
Most of the English rods are made with 
a spear to screw into a socket in the end 
of the butt. The uce of this spear is to 
stick into the ground when not fishing 
so that the rod will stand up, and not fall 
down if leaned against a tree. Also if no 
trees are handy to lean the rod against 
one lays the rod down; when it is in 
danger of being trodden on. With a spear 
one can stand the rod up safely. 
Fig. 3 shows a type of rod that has a 
socket inside the butt into which the spear 
goes when it is not in use. This is a very 
handy arrangement as one always has the 
spear with the rod; if you want to use the 
spear, you do not have to hunt for it. 
A final word about rods, never buy a dry 
fly rod, no matter how attractive it may 
be if the maker’s name is not on the rod. 
The best type of reel to use is a large 
diameter, short spool, single action reel. 
The reel I use is 3 % inches in diameter, 
the spool is 15/16 of an inch long and it 
weighs 6 l /2 oz. It will hold a 35 yd. double 
tapered line spliced on to 50 yds. of plain 
silk line. The click or check is adjustable 
and the reel can be taken apart without any 
tools in a moment. The frame is made in 
one piece with no pillows and screws join¬ 
ing the opposite sides. With such a reel 
one can take up slack very quickly. 
I have never used an automatic reel and 
those of my acquaintances who did use 
automatics have gone back to single action 
reels. The automatic is an extremely use¬ 
ful reel in its own field but for dry fly 
work it does not suit as well as a good type 
of single action reel. 
The weight of a reel is a very important 
point; a reel that is too heavy cannot be 
made lighter without redesigning it but a 
reel that is too light can easily be brought 
to the correct weight by winding lead wire 
around the inside of the drum. 
When the reel with line is attached to 
the rod, the point at which the rod balances 
should be noticed. This point is known as 
the center of gravity. The center of 
gravity should be about 7 inches from the 
center of the handle of the rod, measured 
towards the tip; or the distance from the 
center of the ball of the thumb (the point 
of application of force) to the center of 
gravity is about 4^ inches. 
If the distance from center of handle is 
much over 7 inches the rod seems to be 
slightly top heavy; on the other hand it 
the distance is less than 7 inches the rod 
seems to be too lively, and a rod that is 
rather too whippy when overbalanced by a 
too heavy reel will become still more so. 
The distance 7 inches is not to be re¬ 
garded as an absolute measurement for 
every rod. The main point is that the dis¬ 
tance from the center of application of 
force (the ball of the thumb) should not 
be too far away from, or too close to the 
center of the mass of weights consisting of 
the rod, reel and line. 
The actual point at which the equipped 
rod should balance can only be found by 
trial, but when once found the total weight 
of the reel, line and any extra weight that 
may have been added should be carefully 
noted, and this weight should be recorded 
for future reference, if at any time another 
reel is used with the rod. 
Some years ago I was fishing with a new 
rod and I noticed that I seemed to miss a 
number of fish when they took the fly. One 
evening I had nothing better to do and I 
experimented with this rod and its reel; I 
found that by the addition of )4 oz. of soR 
lead wire to the drum of the reel, the ro ! 
seemed to lose the top-heavy feeling it had 
had, and to balance much better. The fol¬ 
lowing days I noticed furthermore that 1 
missed very few fish. 
When the spear is carried in a recepta¬ 
cle in the butt of the rod it acts as a 
counterweight and it is frequently unnec¬ 
essary to add any weight to the reel to get 
a correct balance to the rod. 
The weights of the present rod, reel, and 
line that I use total 15 oz. made up as fol¬ 
lows : 
Rod . 6 oz. 
Reel . 6yi oz. 
Spear . 1 oz. 
Lines . i)/2 oz. 
The reel can be attached to the rod by 
a new method instead of the usual sliding 
ring; the end of the reel slips into a 
socket and a ring travelling on a coarse 
thread is run up over the other end. A 
reel held in this fashion cannot fall off at 
a critical time and possibly occasion the 
loss of a good fish. (See Fig. 4.) 
(to, be continued next month) 
