35 



manufacturers, and of many made by fishermen 

 themselves. It is also impossible to strike at 

 and hook a fish with certainty of success, or to 

 play him confidently and without harm to your 

 tackle, if your rod is of imperfect formation. 



TJie Fly -fisher's Rod: Let the but, or 

 joint next the hand, be of ash, of the finest, 

 smoothest, and longest grain; of that sort of 

 ash of which the best and lightest cabriolet 

 shafts are made; let the piece for your but be 

 sawn out of the trunk of a straight and full- 

 grown tree, which has been hewn down shortly 

 before the winter solstice, when all trees are 

 sapless ; and let it be from a piece that has 

 been seasoned in a dry place for years. The 

 material cannot be too well seasoned, and 

 should not be sawn too near the centre of 

 the tree, but rather at a distance from the vein 

 through which the pith runs.* Ash makes a 

 hard, tough, and regularly pliant but, and 

 there is only one objection to it, namely, that 



* " Before wood of any description is cut into lengths, it 

 should be perfectly seasoned ; and whatever number of 

 pieces the rod is to be composed of, between the but and, 

 the top-piece, they must all be cut from the same log, and 

 not, as is too frequently done, the second part from one 

 piece of wood, the third from another, and so on, which, 

 not having undergone the same degrees of seasoning, will 

 never play regularly in the hand." Cambridge. 



This is excellent advice. 



