218 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 



I use a ten-foot rod, and find it meets all my require- 

 ments. 



It is well to let your rod have weight enough to have 

 some " back-bone " in it ; very light and very limber rods 

 are objectionable, because with them one cannot cast 

 well against, or across the wind ; and it is impossible to 

 hook your fish with any certainty — especially with a 

 long line out — or to handle one properly when hooked. 



A very limber rod will not re-act quickly enough, nor 

 strongly enough to lift the line and fix the hook firmly ; 

 because, when the upward motion is made, in the act 

 of striking, the point of the rod first goes down ; and, 

 unless it is as stiff as it will do to have it and cast well, 

 it will not re-act until the fish has found out his mis- 

 take and rejected the fraud. 



Rods ten to twelve feet long should weigh from seven 

 and one-half to ten and one-half ounces, depending on 

 the material and weight of mountings, size of hand- 

 piece, etc. Many, perhaps, would say, that eight to 

 ten ounces, for a single-handed fly-rod, is too heavy ; 

 that such rods would prove tiresome to handle. Much 

 depends on how the rod hangs. If a ten-ounce rod is 

 properly balanced, it will be no harder work to use it 

 than a poorly balanced seven-ounce rod — in fact, not 

 as fatiguing. Some men can handle an eleven-foot rod 

 with the same ease that another could one that was a 

 foot shorter. Hence, the rod should be adapted to the 

 person who is to use it. 



The stiffness of a split bamboo rod is one of its great 



