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will never take first rank. The difference between rods 

 is enormous, and there is not one in a hundred, we might 

 say one in a thousand, that will do its work as that work 

 should be done, no matter how admirably it is handled. 

 The fault does not lie in the material, nor wholly in the 

 taper, but there is a subtle something, like the lines of a 

 fast yacht, which cannot be discovered or described, but 

 which distinguish failure from success. Of all the rods, 

 hundreds in number, that the authors of this book have 

 owned, only one was suited to each, and one of those 

 being lost, has never been replaced. 



It is utterly impossible to select a rod in the shop 

 where it is sold. It might as well not be handled at all 

 as handled there. The only test is use on the stream. 

 We do not know whether any of the makers will permit 

 this test, common as it has become with guns, but it 

 should always be demanded. A rod need not be injured 

 or defaced in the least by a day's careful use ; and it is 

 as much to the interest of the manufacturer as to that of 

 the fisherman, that the latter should be satisfied. Doubt- 

 less the suggestion should be complied with by our 

 dealers as soon as its reasonableness is explained to 

 them. In this way some idea of what is desired can be 

 obtained, ^but the choice of a good rod is a matter of time 

 or luck. 



As to material of which the rod should be made, there 

 is probably no preference among the higher classed 

 woods. Bamboo, if split or inlaid on cedar, is the most 

 expensive, and is now the favorite. Iron wood was the 

 preference of the late Mr. Norris. Green heart had a 

 great run for a time, and in the hands of a careful man 

 cedar, although brittle, is excellent; but ash will make 

 a fairly good rod, and so will lancewood, although the 

 latter is rather heavy. We speak of the second joints; 



