i88 SALMON AND TROUT. 



which will be found suitable to his strength, it would be no loss 

 to them, and would save a great deal of disappointment. It 

 would, moreover, start the novice in the right road to success ; 

 whereas, if he begins fishing with a big rod that is over his 

 strength, he will have probably to toil and labour for weeks 

 before he can make a decent cast, which he might have suc- 

 ceeded in accomplishing in a day or two if he had taken a 

 friend's advice. 



A seventeen-foot rod is quite long enough for any ordinary 

 casting for salmon, provided it is of sufficient power. A sixteen- 

 foot rod is long enough for peel or grilse fishing, or even for 

 salmon, when the water is low and where fine tackle and small 

 flies are required. Anyone who has read the reports of the 

 Casting Tournaments at Hendon, will see what marvellous 

 casts were made with sixteen-foot rods : but they must be 

 made of good stuff, with plenty of lifting power. Fishermen 

 of any experience will of course select a rod to suit their own 

 fancy, but I strongly recommend the novice to make his first 

 effort with a rod under his strength, and, above all things, to 

 avoid using one with a weak, whippy top. 



The art of rod-making has been brought to great perfection 

 in America ; the split-cane rods are marvellous works of art, 

 and are being much used in this country ; but they are very 

 expensive, and, as I cannot discover any particular advantage 

 they possess over our old-fashioned English-made rod, I prefer 

 to use the latter. 



THE REEL AND LINE. 



It is a great mistake to fish with a big, heavy reel, as every 

 ounce of needless weight in reel or rod will tell against the 

 angler in a hard day's fishing, as surely as it does upon a race- 

 horse when running a race. A man who thinks it necessary to 

 fish with a big rod generally uses a big reel to match, with as 

 much line as it will hold, very often needlessly thick. To make 

 a clean cast the line must be used to suit the rod. When fish- 



