48 ROD AND RIVER 



rod may last a lifetime, and for such fishing the 

 line may be lighter than when fishing up-stream 

 with a dry-fly. For mayfly fishing in the latter 

 style, where the feathers of the fly require a 

 great deal of drying, the strain on a rod is very 

 heavy, and I may also add the strain on the arm 

 of the fisherman ; for it is trying work, and can 

 make the strongest and most supple wrist ache 

 intensely. So trying is it, that one person of my 

 acquaintance who, by the way, is one of the very 

 best of our Hampshire fishermen, and famous 

 for his skill with a rod prefers to change his fly 

 for a fresh one, when wetted, to the labour en- 

 tailed by having to dry it, and the strain to which 

 his rod is subjected. He certainly kills a tre- 

 mendous quantity of fish, and I am told that he 

 is one of the few men who can cast a natural 

 fly, not merely a mayfly, without flicking it 

 off; such a feat is difficult enough with a may- 

 fly on a blow-line, but with an ordinary midge-fly, 

 such as an olive-dun, etc., it requires an unusual 

 amount of delicacy and skill. 



The more modern trout-rods are somewhat 

 different in shape to those of former days. Green- 

 heart is more extensively used than it used to 

 be, and being a heavy wood, demands that the 

 rod should be lightened proportionately, and no 

 more wood retained than is absolutely necessary. 

 The lightening of the rod is effected by reducing 



