12 RODS OF DEFECTITE BALANXE. 



and it c;\n be stained and polished to any colour 

 or brillianev — to that of old oak or rose-wood, to 

 which elbow-oil for years has been assiduously 

 applied. It is vastly prefemble to lance-wood. 

 The top-joints of salmon-rods should be of the 

 finest bamboo cane, and I see no objection to a 

 short piece of lance-wood at their thick ends. 

 Every salmon-rod should have two small-pieces 

 and tliree tops., one of which, for strong work, 

 should be made of rent and glued bamboo caue. 

 These spare small-pieces and top-joints are pre- 

 cautionary, but by no means uselessly so. They 

 are remedies for bre;\kage in those joints where it 

 is most likely to occur. 



The best materials will avail little, if the rod- 

 maker be not a good one. First-rate fly-rod 

 makers are scarce. Grenerally speakiug, they 

 understand outward finish, and perform it well. 

 Balance is what they know least about, and no 

 wonder, since very few of them, in London at 

 least, are fly-fishers. If a rod fail in due and 

 equalised balance from butt to tip, it will be 

 cumbersome, fatiguing, and of unsatisfactory and 

 irregular action. There will be more play in 

 one joint than in another ; elasticity, weight, and 

 strength, or their opposites, wiU be irregularly 

 distributed, and all the advantages of equi- 



