252 THE YOUNG ANGLER. 



are the delights of angling, whether we catch many fish or few ; 

 for it is the holiday, after all, that is the great charm. 



But there is no fishing without tackle, so we will begin with a 

 brief statement of what is necessary for the equipment of the angler. 



FISHING-KODS. 



The KOD being the staff upon which the angler's sport in some 

 measure depends, we shall give some particulars respecting its choice 

 and manufacture. At all fishing-tackle shops, rods made of vine, 

 bamboo, hazel, and hickory, of various lengths and fashions, may 

 be procured ; some are made to fit into canvas bags, whilst others 

 resemble walking canes ; the former, however, are decidedly the 

 best, being longer and better made, as the joints are more carefully 

 fitted together. The rod should, when put together, taper gradually 

 from the butt end to the top, and be perfectly straight and even. 

 For general purposes, a rod of about 12 feet in length is the most 

 convenient ; but in wide rivers, 15 and 18-feet rods are required. 

 A bamboo rod with several tops of different degrees of strength, is 

 well adapted for general purposes, and a cane rod is excellent for 

 fine fishing. We must not, however, omit mentioning what is called 

 " a general rod," which is so contrived, by means of top-joints of 

 various degrees of length and elasticity, as to answer the various 

 purposes of fly-fishing, trolling, or bottom fishing. 



If the young angler wishes to turn rod manufacturer, he may use 

 ash for the butts, and lancewood for the tops, and so make ex- 

 tremely good two-piece rods ; or crab-tree for the stocks, with hazel 

 or yew switches for the tops. A whalebone top is also an extremely 

 good article ; and should have a strong loop of horsehair whipt 

 on it. Hazel wands are very serviceable additions to the stock of 

 materials ; they must be cut towards the end of the year, and 

 allowed to dry and season in the chimney during winter, and if 

 any accident should befal a good rod, a tolerable substitute may 

 be made by sloping off the ends of three or four of these wands, 

 and then fastening them firmly together with shoemaker's thread. 

 It is a good plan to have a rod for each kind of fishing, as by such 

 an arrangement they can be kept in complete order, and ready for 

 immediate service. The rods should be ringed to guide the line from 

 the reel ; and when screwing the joints together, particular attention 

 should be paid to these rings to see that they run regularly on the 

 under side of the rod, so that there may not be the least likelihood 

 of the line getting twisted. The rods should always be kept in a 

 place of moderate temperature, neither too dry nor too moist ; as in 

 the former case they would become brittle, and in the latter, rotten ; 

 in warm, dry weather, if the joints are slightly shrunk, they may be 

 moistened a little to make them adhere better ; but if, through being 

 too wet, they stick together so that you cannot readily take them to 

 pieces, wait till they dry, rather than strain them by a forcible sepa- 

 ration. It is a good plan to varnish the rods once in two or three 

 years with copal varnish, or else with India-rubber dissolved over a 

 slow fire in linseed oil ; either of these preparations preserves the 



