102 Fly-rods and Fly-tackle. 



All will admit that comfort in use, efficiency in casting 

 the fly, and power to control and land the fish after it is 

 fastened, are the desiderata ; strength to withstand the 

 incidental strain, and elasticity to recover on the removal 

 of the deflection caused thereby, being in all cases pre- 

 sumed. 



It needs no Sir Isaac Newton to assure us that with 

 two rods of equal weight, and respectively ten and twelve 

 feet long, the former will occasion far less fatigue than 

 the latter; since, while the shorter arm of the lever is 

 equal in both cases, the longer arm, which is to do the 

 work, is greater in the latter. Nay, further, even though 

 the shorter rod exceed in actual weight, still it may re- 

 tain its advantage in this respect. 



The importance of this consideration to one who at- 

 tempts to cast from early morn to dewy eve, as does 

 every fisherman whose days on the stream are few and 

 far between, cannot well be exaggerated. Whether the 

 latter half of the day shall be a toil or a pleasure, is de- 

 termined thereby. 



As to efficiency in casting the fly, certainly none of 

 the hundreds who witnessed the fly-casting tournament 

 at Central Park, in New York City, on October 16, 1883, 

 and saw a fly cast eighty-five feet with a ten-foot rod 

 weighing only four and three-eighths ounces, will ques- 

 tion the ability of a ten-foot rod of six and a half to 

 seven ounces to meet all reasonable expectations in 

 this respect. To those who are unfamiliar with these 

 events, it may be remarked that the caster stands on a 

 platform one foot above the water, built out at a right 

 angle to, and about thirty feet distant from the shore. 

 The contestants thus cast parallel with the shore, and 

 beside a rope supported by small floats placed five feet 



