ROD, REEL, AND LINE 51 



with a quiet recommendation, as we were leaving his 

 hall after breakfast. What a difference ! The new 

 rod put spirit into the work. Out flew the flies with 

 a fresh decisiveness, and back they came with ease 

 and tidily. Ere long we had six other fish in the 

 boat. As I had caught only half of them, the 

 success could not be attributed altogether to the 

 change of rods. It was mainly due to the fact that 

 the trout had " come on the feed." Still, the greater 

 ease with which one managed the flies when using 

 Mr. Harris's rod caused reflection. That rod and 

 my own were of the same length, and apparently 

 almost equal in weight ; whence the difference in 

 their actions? The answer was not far to seek. 

 While my own rod was of built-cane, the other was 

 of greenheart. 



Besides being beautifully finished, a built-cane 

 rod is very strong, so strong, indeed, that mine has 

 never been broken, has never had a loose joint, since 

 it was given to me nine years ago; but, even 

 although it is " steel-centred," it does not have the 

 highest possible power. If you have to cast against 

 the breeze, as sometimes on a stream, the rod, being 

 very pliable, lacks force ; if you are casting with the 

 wind, as nearly always on a lake, it is similarly hard 

 put to it in recovering the line and the flies. A 

 greenheart rod, on the other hand, has at once less 

 flexibility and a liveliness peculiarly its own. It is 

 not, like the other, a thing of shreds, compact of 

 wood that has grown from several roots: it is a 

 naturally solid unit, and seems somehow to retain 



