The Trout 



brushy stream. Good rods can be obtained 

 running from nine to eleven feet and from 

 four to seven ounces. For narrow, shallow 

 streams overhung with trees and shrub- 

 bery, and where the fish are small, the light- 

 est and shortest rod is sufficient and most 

 convenient. For larger streams or open 

 water the rod should not exceed ten feet, 

 and six ounces. Where trout are exception- 

 ally large, as in the Lake Superior region 

 or in Maine, the maximum of eleven feet, 

 and seven ounces will be about right for 

 most anglers. 



Fly-rods built for tournament work, espe- The Chief 

 cially for long-distance casting, are marvels rq^^^^^" ° ' 

 in their way, but it does not follow that they 

 are adapted, or the best, for work on the 

 stream. The essential and most important 

 office of a rod is that which is exhibited 

 after a fish is hooked — in other words, in 

 the playing and landing of the fish. In 

 practical angling the act of casting, either 

 with fly or bait, is merely preliminary and 

 subordinate to the real uses of a rod. The 

 poorest fly-rod made will cast a fly thirty 

 71 



