BAIT CASTING FOR BASS 



guides is therefore relatively modern. It was only 

 a step to the use of large diameter agate guides, pol- 

 ished and rounded, which are the last word in cast- 

 ing gear. This short rod has been made in differ- 

 ent materials since then steel, lancewood, betha- 

 bera, and split bamboo. 



For one of these short casting rods, say six and 

 one-half feet and six and one-quarter ounces, you 

 will have to pay thirty-three dollars if you get your 

 rod made by a top-notch maker. In steel you can go 

 down to four, five, or six dollars. In split bamboo 

 good enough to kill bass you can get a bass 

 casting rod as low as one dollar. Certainly there is 

 range sufficient in price. Without attempting to 

 counsel any man what he should spend for his 

 sporting equipment, it is perhaps fair to say that the 

 more he can pay for his bait-casting outfit, the better 

 time he will have and the longer the outfit will last 

 him. At its top development a good bass casting 

 outfit which can be carried between two fingers and 

 in one pocket will run something over a hundred- 

 dollar bill. At one-tenth of that cost the plain citi- 

 zen can go out and catch bass. 



The hook, finger-grasp, or trigger which one 

 sometimes sees adjusted to the butt of one of these 

 short casting rods was the invention of a friend 

 who saw the original Kalamazoo rod in work. This 



