28 MODERN SEA FISHING 



kinds of sea fishing, is that the rod acts as a lever and vastly 

 increases on our wrists and arms the actual weight which is 

 depending from its point. The ordinary freshwater rod varies 

 in length from about ten to eighteen feet, and in the early days 

 of modern rod fishing in the sea, freshwater anglers used an 

 eleven- or twelve-feet rod. Great indeed was the labour of 

 reeling up a tackle weighted with a lead of half a pound or 

 more. But the evolution in sea-fishing rods has gone on 

 steadily. The rod has been shortened inch by inch until now 

 for boat fishing a handy little instrument of six or seven feet 

 is made, doing away with all the disadvantages of the ordi- 

 nary pike or other rod which was formerly used. There is an 

 illustration and detailed description of it in Chapter VII. It 

 has special fittings at the top and on the ring next the butt, 

 which reduce friction to a minimum. Possibly some day ball 

 bearings may be introduced into the little block used at the 

 end of sea-fishing rods. They have already found their way into 

 the bearings of reels. With these short but trustworthy rods 

 a weight of a pound can be reeled up without any difficulty, 

 and fishing can be carried on, if needs be, with sinkers of two 

 pounds or even more. These are great weights for use on a 

 rod, and rarely needed, even in deep water, if the line is as 

 fine as the one I have described. With sinkers of eight ounces 

 or thereabout I prefer to use an eleven-foot rod. For fly fish- 

 ing from a boat nothing more than the ordinary grilse rod is 

 required ; but on shore, especially in steep rocky places, it 

 often happens that the longer the rod the better, within reason- 

 able limits. 



Generally speaking, a rod and reel cannot and ought not to 

 be used for fish of any size from a yacht or any good-sized 

 sailing vessel when under weigh ; for then fish cannot be played, 

 and the dead weight of reeling them in while the vessel is 

 going along four, five, or six knots an hour is a greater strain 



