26 THE PIKE. 



A good rod, such as I have attempted to describe, would 

 run up to fifteen or sixteen shillings, or possibly a shilling 

 or two more, if everything was of the very best quality. A 

 very fair weapon that would be extremely useful to the work- 

 ing man pike angler who only gets out occasionally could be 



yiS— —JUfft- '-^ 



T II nu ll 



Fig. I. A Cheap Pikk Rod. 

 produced from eight to ten shillings. Fig. i shows an ex- 

 tremely useful jack rod that is built in four lengths for con- 

 venience of carriage if the longer-jointed one would be too 

 awkward to carry about. The material of this is East India 

 cane and lancewood tops. Fig. 2 is an exact reproduction 

 of my own pike rod. This, too, is built of East India cane, 

 and its fittings and rings are similar to what I have described 

 in the foregoing pages. I have touched upon this question 

 of a pike rod in a rather lengthy manner, and some may say 

 gone rather unnecessarily into certain details; but I was 

 anxious to give the would-be pike fisherman a few hints as 

 to what he really required, so as to save him trouble and ex- 

 pense afterwards. When he goes to his rod maker now, he 

 will be in a position tO' tell him exactly what he wants, and 



Fig. 2. The Author s Pike Rod. 

 the results are likely to be more satisfactory on both sides. 

 I must let this be my excuse, to say nothing of the fact that 

 in the very few pages that I have devoted to this special sub- 

 ject of rods there is the experience of nearly a lifetime at 

 the rod maker's bench and the riverside recorded. One 

 more little thing that I had nearly forgotten in connection 



