THE BAIT-CASTING ROD 17 



I have a salt-water rod in lancewood, double- 

 guided, (it was this rod, by the way, which suggested 

 a dou e-guided casting rod), that has never shown 

 any tendency to warp, but then, it is of exceedingly 

 large caliber. If the owner of a lancewood would 

 suspend the rod from the tip with a weight attached 

 at the butt, when not in use, he would find that it 

 would go far to correct any tendency to "set" which 

 the rod might have manifested. And, in passing, it 

 is a good plan to administer a dose of the same medi- 

 cine to any wood rod, the most aristocratic split- 

 bamboo not excepted. It is exceedingly difficult to 

 correct a warped rod that has been neglected for any 

 length of time, therefore the wise angler is quick to 

 suspend his rod as directed above as soon as a hint 

 of "set" is manifested. 



Anglers are always on the lookout for rod ma- 

 terial, always experimenting, usually disappointed, 

 though often thinking that they have made an im- 

 portant discovery. In the foregoing paragraphs we 

 have mentioned the most generally used materials, 

 and there remains but to speak of a few others some- 

 times employed. Ironwood .makes a good rod, 

 somewhat heavy, it is true, liable to fracture and not 

 possessed of great casting power; however, I am not 

 altogether satisfied with my experiments, having thus 

 far found it exceedingly difficult to secure good sec- 

 tions of the material. I can not help believing that 

 ironwood is one of the best of the occasionally used 



