FISHING TACKLE IN DR BELL'S DAY

FISHING TACKLE EMPLOYED BY DR BELL AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES

 

By Adrian V W Freer

 

Anglers of Dr Bell’s day not only had to cope with the fact that suitable imitative fly patterns had not yet been devised or that satisfactory techniques of retrieving them had not been perfected; they also had the considerable drawback of having to use tackle that was inferior to that available today. That is not to say that the tackle of the early twentieth century was not of a high quality, far from it, the problem was that the materials and (most importantly) the awareness of what was required to fulfil the requirements of long distance reservoir fly fishing had not yet been fully understood. The build quality was generally of a high standard and top-end of the market rods and reels were lovingly put together and a joy to behold. Indeed, the standard was such that the premium products of the time are much sought after by collectors today. The problem was simply that the technology available was unable to fulfil the demands of reaching fish that were a considerable distance from the angler.

 

Nowadays anglers are blessed with, and probably take for granted, the benefits of modern technology: we have light, carbon fibre rods capable of casting as far as is needed with a minimum of effort, aerospace grade aluminium reels that balance them perfectly, plastic coated fly lines that either float all day long or else sink consistently, and monofilament leader materials that are strong, resilient and reliable. Not only that, they require little maintenance into the bargain. That was not the case in Dr Bell’s day.

 

Back in the 1920s and 1930s things were quite different. Some of the heavy cane and greenheart rods of the time took a great deal of effort to cast what would be considered only modest distances today, and the brass, alloy and wooden reels that matched them were heavy and cumbersome. The combined weight of the rod and the effort required to propel the flies any sort of distance would tire the fittest angler before the day was half-done.

 

The same goes for the fly lines of the period which were very different from those we know now. In those days lines were manufactured from a twisted silk core coated with several layers of raw linseed oil dressing until it attained the required thickness (and weight). They needed to be dressed with line grease before beginning to fish and then carefully dried after each outing. In spite of all this treatment they were still prone to sinking and after just a few hours use they would need to be cleaned, dried and re-dressed before continuing. If routine maintenance was neglected they soon became tacky and unusable beyond repair and would have to be discarded.

 

Although it is taken for granted nowadays that matching rods to line weights is crucial to obtain the correct line for a given rod, in those days things were not so straightforward and the different rod and line manufacturers all worked to different standards. Before the introduction of the AFTM line rating system finding a line that perfectly matched the action of your rod was very much a matter of trial and error.

 

Leader materials were very different too. Silkworm gut was employed in those days and this was brittle when dry and it had to be thoroughly soaked in water or glycerine before knotting or else it would easily break. Despite every precaution and meticulous treatment it was always unreliable and it deteriorated rapidly into the bargain. Being expensive there was always the temptation to hang on to a gut leader just that little while longer – all too often with disastrous consequences as a memorable fish made its escape. Few anglers around today probably know much about gut and how it is prepared and so here is a brief outline of what it is and how it is manufactured.

 

Gut leaders are made from strands of pure silk that come from the caterpillar of the domestically cultivated silkworm moth, Bombyx mori, which feeds on white mulberry leaves. To make them was a highly skilled and messy procedure. When the silkworm caterpillar was fully grown and ready to spin its cocoon it would be dropped into a pickling solution of salt and vinegar. Next the worm would be torn apart by hand and the silkworm’s two guts, the sac-like organs used to spin the pupal case, were pulled out into two thick threads. Upon contact with the air the gut would begin to solidify and before this had occurred it needed to be stretched before it fully hardened. Once gut stretches to a certain thickness it will not stretch any more and at this point it is at its optimum strength to thickness ratio. Any further stretching will only weaken it. The resultant strands would be graded and subsequently drawn through holes in a polished metal plate to achieve the required final thickness. The lengths of gut would finally be washed and dried ready for use. The silk threads were quite short, around 18 inches at most, and several strands would need to be tied together to achieve the necessary length. It was a truly unpleasant and messy undertaking and whoever first invented the process was embarking on a singular enterprise – but this is how gut leaders were fashioned. The best quality gut used in the United Kingdom came from Spain. There was a synthetic version but it did not possess the same characteristics of genuine silkworm gut and what it is made from I am unsure.

 

Fly hooks are one item that has not changed significantly and in appearance they are little different from those used by Dr Bell (see the examples of flies tied by the doctor). Nevertheless there have been improvements on other fronts: the steel alloys employed are much-improved, the gauge of wire used nowadays tends to be thinner for a given hook size, barbs are less pronounced and modern chemical sharpening techniques result in much sharper hooks. These refinements have all contributed towards better penetration and holding power.

 

When one considers the deficiencies in tackle design and performance that fly anglers of the early twentieth century had to contend with it reminds us just how skilful many of the anglers of Dr Bell’s day actually were. Long casting is very much taken for granted nowadays but in those days it was nigh impossible with the crude tackle in use and therefore stealth and watercraft were disciplines that anglers had to master if they were to catch anything at all. We can certainly learn a lot from them. Quite how they managed to deceive, hook and land the five-pounders, which were not that uncommon in the early days of Blagdon, is something of a miracle. It makes one appreciate just how ingenious, persistent and skilled these early fly anglers were and the respect they deserve. We probably take their legacy all too much for granted.