One day I broke the delicate top joint of my fly-fishing rod by
catching the fly in a bush during the back throw.
Well, it's no use giving up fishing because your rod is broken; the
thing to do is to set to work and mend it. It is an accident which
often happens, especially to a beginner, and every Scout ought to know
how to mend his rod.
My rod had snapped off a few inches from the tip, so I took the ring
off the broken tip, and, after trimming the broken end of the rod with
my knife, I put the ring on to this and thus made my rod workable; but
it was just a few inches shorter than it had been before.
This is the way to bind your ring on to the new tip--at least, it's
the way I did it, and it served quite well for the rest of my trip.
Having no beeswax, I took some "gum" from the bark of a fir tree and
rubbed a thin coating on the rod and on the black silk thread I had
with me; then, putting the ring on to the end of the rod, I bound it
there with a very careful and tight wrapping of the silk. This I had
previously wound on to a stick so as to get a good hold on it for
pulling each turn tight.
To fasten the end of the silk, proceed as follows:
[Illustration: HOW TO BIND THE RING OF A FISHING-ROD ON A NEW TIP.]
After winding from A steadily up towards the point B (about an inch),
when you have still about half a dozen turns to do, make a big loop of
your silk C, and lay the loose end of it, B D, on the unbound bit of
rod, and go on binding over it until you have reached the point B with
your thread as in the sketch. You then pull D and the loop C gradually
closes in till there is nothing left of it. Then you cut off the loose
end D close to the rod.
Put a coating of gum or varnish over the whole to make it fast and
watertight, and then you have your rod as strong and as sound as ever.
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