26 TROUT-FISHING FOR THE BEGINNER 



the grain, the material is immensely strong. 

 Bamboo also does not shrink like wood, and 

 therefore is admirably suited to carry any 

 form of metal ferrules. A rod so constructed 

 is not only extremely resilient but also 

 extraordinarily tough, and practically 

 unbreakable, given anything like fair usage. 

 Wooden rods are made of greenheart, blue 

 mahoe, steelwood, lancewood and hickory. 

 In some cases hickory and greenheart, or 

 whole cane and greenheart, are used in 

 conjunction. Greenheart is the most widely 

 used rod wood, and though it is brittle and 

 liable to break under sudden strain, unless 

 particularly straight in the grain, a rod 

 composed of it forms a mettlesome weapon, 

 well suited to delicate fly-fishing. Wooden 

 rods may be strengthened and stiffened by 

 the addition of phosphor-bronze wire wrap- 

 ping, wound round the outside of the joints 

 in diamond formation. I have used a rod 

 with a whole cane butt and greenheart top 

 so wired for some years, and it has thoroughly 

 proved its worth. Wooden rods, having 

 no outer skin, suffer to some extent from 

 wet, unless they are kept varnished. 



Being a delicate instrument, a rod is liable 

 to damage in the hands of a novice, and for 

 this reason a split bamboo is best suited to 



