216 FLY FISHING AND SPINNING 



most pleasant to use, and, provided its other qualities be 

 equally good, will permit of the greatest accuracy and 

 delicacy in casting. 



A test made in any such mechanical manner, cannot be 

 of any service in answering the question as to what effect 

 the action of a rod has on the wrist and arm of the fisherman. 

 It is the senses of the fisherman alone which must be his 

 guide as to this action, and if he be inexperienced, and the 

 particular sense required to test the action of the rod on his 

 wrist has not been educated, he will, if he makes his selection 

 in a shop, most likely err in the choice of a rod. 



THE HAND TEST 



If we take the top end of a three piece rod, and, holding 

 it inflexibly in one hand, we try its action by striking or 

 switching it backward and forward, we shall most likely 

 say what a beautiful, quick action, etc., it has. If we then 

 take the middle joint of the same rod, and do likewise, we 

 shall say that its action is awkward and stiff, and if we take 

 the butt end we shall still more emphatically condemn its 

 action, etc. Now, fixing the two upper joints together 

 we shall find that the stiff action of the middle joint has to 

 some extent been modified, and when we fix the three joints 

 together we may perchance say What a perfect action ! 

 But it must be at once evident that as the forearm con- 

 stitutes another joint, the rod is, when thus tested, a 

 four-joint rod, and its perfection really depends upon the 

 relationship of the upper three pieces to the fourth piece 

 the forearm. 



A rod, when tested in a mechanical holder, may have a 

 rate and degree of vibrations approaching that of the most 

 perfect rod, and yet when tested by those members which 

 have to control and actuate it, viz., the hand, the wrist, and 

 the forearm, may be intolerably severe on the wrist. 



