224 BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. 



ence to all other rods, and a demand at once sprang up for 

 the " Welles' rod," and they are still made and used to 

 some extent. Other Western manufacturers afterward 

 adopted the idea, and oifered them to anglers in lengths 

 of from seven to ten feet. 



But while such a rod is cheap, light, and eminently- 

 serviceable, it has, to my mind, some very serious objec- 

 tions. In the first place, it is very homely and unsym- 

 metrical in form ; the short, stubby butt tapering so sud- 

 denly and abruptly to the cane-joint, gives the rod a very 

 awkward and unfinished appearance, and entirely destroys 

 the balance of the rod. Now, as remarked at the begin- 

 ning of this article, " a thing of beauty is a joy forever," 

 and one can appreciate this quality in a fishing-rod, as well 

 as in a horse, a yacht, or a gun. In the next place, it is 

 too stiff and unyielding, except at the extreme tip ; the 

 bend not being equally distributed along the entire rod, as 

 it should be : and this fault, from the nature of the rod, 

 can not well be obviated. This I consider an insuperable 

 objection, for it precludes that nice discrimination in feel- 

 ing your fish when he is taking the bait, and that delicate 

 manipulation of him after he is hooked. The owners of 

 this rod, however, are very enthusiastic in its praise, and it 

 is, at least, a step in the right direction for a more perfect 

 Black Bass rod. 



The Cuvier Black Bass Rod. 



The most complete rod of this character which I have 

 seen, is made by Mr. George B. Ellard, of Cincinnati. It 

 is made in two pieces of choice, short-jointed Japanese 

 bamboo, with an adjustable handle, which can be detached 



