106 FISHING KITS AND EQUIPMENT 



casting tools and tackle their fitness for use in angling 

 for this game fish will be chiefly considered. The an- 

 gler having become familiar with casting for bass 

 should have no trouble in making the necessary tackle 

 changes for mascalonge and others whenever it should 

 happen to be necessary. 



Choice of material for the bait-casting rod is the 



same as for the fly-rod split-bamboo in hexagonal 



and octagonal; greenheart; bethabara; 



noibwood, a selected quality of bethaba- 

 Matenals. , ^ . , , , . 



ra; and lancewood. Steel rods for bait- 

 casting are also made in many styles. While in the mat- 

 ter of fly-rod material expert opinion is unanimously in 

 favor of split-bamboo, personal choice among experts 

 as to the best material for the casting rod is quite con- 

 flicting. 



For tournament casting, it may be said that split- 

 bamboo is by far the most generally used ; from which 

 it would appear that this material, on the ground that 

 tournament casting is the acid test of tackle and meth- 

 ods of tackle handling, is the most likely to prove sat- 

 isfactory. But, as a matter of fact, when we come 

 down to practical angling and black bass, we find that 

 the solid wood rods, and sometimes the steel rods, are 

 used by fishermen far more frequently than those of 

 split-bamboo. For the explanation of this we have to 

 seek no farther than the character and habits of the 

 black bass and the generally rough-and-ready nature of 

 the fishing for him. The black bass, size for size, is 



