LET US GO AFIELD 



finger-hold or trigger is made by different concerns, 

 and one patented form is detachable from the rod. 

 Take one of these short, stiff, casting machines, with 

 little action except just at the tip, with its finger 

 trigger and its big steel or agate guides, and at first 

 sight one would not think it was a descendant of the 

 old-time bass casting rod of eight feet or better 

 which was pliable, flexible, with action from the 

 butt joint to the tip. The purpose of the old-time 

 longer bass rod was to handle a bait delicately and 

 to play a fish with some enjoyment. The purpose 

 of the short modern casting rod is to slam a bait 

 as far as possible and to jerk a bass out of the lily 

 pads as quickly as possible. There is no law and no 

 obligation upon any one to join either of these two 

 schools of bait casting, save as his own fancy and 

 conviction shall dictate. 



One secret of the fascination of bait casting al- 

 ways has been its difficulty as matched against its 

 desirability. One knows there is a bass out there 

 thirty or forty yards, and one keeps on trying to get 

 at him until finally the knack is learned. Meantime 

 the beginner has become acquainted with the peculi- 

 arity of the casting reel which is known as back- 

 lashing the overrunning of the line when the reel 

 is not thumbed properly while the bait is pulling 

 the line off the reel. In this way the line piles up 



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