108 Fly-rods and Fly-tackle. 



splinters. It is unnecessary to inform the expert that 

 the trout at once unhooked itself and escaped. How 

 they almost invariably accomplish this little trick under 

 such circumstances, is another of those dark mysteries 

 which overshadow our art. 



But not to this, or the like causes, can we attribute 

 many of the accidents which fall under the angler's no- 

 tice. It is notorious that rods are usually broken on 

 small, rather than on large fish, and this, too, after they 

 have again and again withstood strains apparently far 

 more onerous. Who has not seen a rod, the pride of its 

 owner and the victor in many a hot struggle, fail in some 

 part under the mere stress of casting? Such breaks, as 

 far as my observation enables me to speak, are sharply 

 transverse, as though the material had been subjected to 

 a shearing strain. An effort has been made to account 

 for this on the theory that a wave of vibration starting 

 from the lower, meets another on the way from the up- 

 per part of the rod, and that the shock of the encounter 

 is the destructive cause. I cannot say that I have ever 

 been able to detect the existence of any such waves. I 

 suppose the theory requires them to be something like 

 those which meet in the middle of a rope or cloth, 

 sharply and simultaneously shaken at both ends. We 

 all know the sudden kick, so to speak, to which this gives 

 rise, an impulse not perhaps inadequate to produce the 

 result in question. Though I have a constitutional dis- 

 trust of theories based on uncertain premises, still I am 

 unable to suggest any more plausible explanation ; or, 

 as yet, to devise any experiment adequate to determine 

 its truth or falsity, or point out the actual cause. 



If this theory be sound, then double-actioned rods 

 should be more liable to fracture under these circum- 



