HOLMES S RODS. 39 



at two feet seven and a half from the same part. 

 By these, as a standard, it will be easy to 

 calculate the proper balance of any fly-rod. 

 Thus, for a salmon-rod, if eighteen feet give three 

 feet five inches and a half, what will ^(the length 

 of the rod proposed) produce ? and for trout, if 

 fourteen feet three inches and a half give two feet 

 seven inches and a half, what will ^give you ? Do 

 not forget the weight and size of the reel which 

 the use you put your rod to, will require. If you 

 wish to change it for a heavier one, you may still 

 keep the fulcrum in the same place by having the 

 lower part of the but hollowed out; and if for a 

 lighter one, it can be regulated by having it 

 plugged with lead. 



Holmes's Rods. — There is one kind of rod of 

 rather recent introduction, with the winch fitted 

 i?ito the but, which I ought particularly to men- 

 tion, and of which I believe Holmes, a London 

 tackle-maker, is the inventor. I have not tried 

 them myself, though I have seen and heard of 

 them in the hands of others; yet the objections 

 which the bare sight of them presents, and which 

 prevail in practice, are, first, that the rod is not 

 kept in its proper position while fishing, namely 

 rings downwards; as it naturally is by the weight 

 of the ordinary winch, put on in the usual fashion ; 

 and again, if the lower end of the but is ever used 

 as a fulcrum against the body in killing a fish, as 



