SELECTING THE ROD 249 



When selecting a rod for either method the action 

 and balance of the rod is of the greatest importance, 

 and, to determine these points, the rod, with the reel 

 attached, should be grasped in the hand, or hands, as 

 usually held, and switched backward and forward in 

 the horizontal plane with the eyes shut. 



The shorter the distance at which the trout rod 

 appears to extend beyond the hand, judging by the 

 feel alone, when thus held and moved, the better. 

 The shorter the distance which the salmon rod appears 

 to project beyond a point midway between the two 

 hands (the pivot point), the better the balance, etc., 

 of the rod. The dry fly rod when held horizontally 

 should not incline downward at the tip. The pur- 

 chaser of a rod should remember that the wrist and 

 arm, unless fatigued, will not readily detect either a 

 faulty action or a badly balanced rod such faults 

 will, however, become painfully apparent after a few 

 hours' fishing. 



The length and the stiffness or the whippiness 

 of the rod chosen should depend on the river, the 

 size of the fish, and the different methods of 

 fishing. 



In dry fly fishing and fishing up-stream, the rod 

 selected should be fairly stiff, as the hooking of a fish 

 depends on the initiative of the striker, and after a 

 trout has taken the fly, the sooner the strike is made 

 and the wrist action communicated to the hook, the 

 better the chance of establishing a relationship between 

 the trout and the rod. The more whippy the rod, the 



