FISHES OF THE WEST. 317 



bait rod is made into a trout fly rod by tapering- it throughout, the 

 bass fly rod is changed to a bass bait rod by reducing its length ; 

 the weight in each case being considerably diminished, but by dif- 

 ferent processes. " The rod that I am now using," says the Doc- 

 tor, " is eight feet and three inches long, in three joints ; the first 

 joint or but is composed of white ash, and the second joint and 

 tip of lancevvood ; it weighs just eight ounces ; it is finely balanced, 

 and has a true bend from but to tip, in the form of a segment of 

 a circle ; with it I have killed hundreds of black bass, weighing 

 from two to four pounds, and occasionally more, and pickerel from 

 five to twelve pounds, with an occasional one scaling fifteen pounds. 

 I have used it three seasons, and do not see where it can be im- 

 proved ; it is as firm and elastic as when first made. I have sev- 

 eral times cast out my entire line of fifty yards, when casting with 

 the wind. I feel justly proud of the merits of this rod, for I made it 

 myself." " As for the bass fly rod " (the Doctor again), it " should 

 be constructed upon the model and of the same material as a single- 

 handed trout fly rod. It must, however, be longer, slightly stiffer, 

 and consequently heavier, but should approximate in its general 

 features, as nearly as possible, the trout fly rod. Assuming a trout 

 rod to be eleven feet long, and weighing from seven to nine ounces, 

 according to the material of its construction, a black bass fly rod 

 should be from twelve to twelve feet and three inches in length, 

 and if formed of split bamboo, should weigh from nine to eleven 

 ounces ; or if made of ash and laiicewood, should weigh from ten 

 to twelve ounces. Split bamboo makes the handsomest and light- 

 est rod, but a combination of ash and lancewood will prove the 

 most serviceable, and can be furnished for at least one-half the 

 price of the former. The rod should be made in three joints, the 

 but of white ash, and the tip and second joint of lancewood ; it 

 should have as true a taper and as graceful proportions as the best 

 trout fly rod ; should be very flexible and pliant, but should not be 

 so withy or willowy as the lightest trout rods." 



Such a rod, let us say, would be found to answer all the emer- 

 gencies of fly fishing for black bass, and would be just the im- 

 plement for the largest brook trout of Maine or the Nepigon. J. 

 C. Welles of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Charles F. Orvis of Man- 

 chester, Vermont, make such rods warranted to give satisfaction, 



