222 FLY FISHING AND SPINNING 



led many inexperienced buyers to invest in rods which are 

 neither suitable nor pleasant for fishing purposes. 



POINTS TO REMEMBER WHEN SELECTING A ROD 



The greatest care, nay caution should be adopted 

 when purchasing a rod. 



It is better in every case for even the most experienced 

 fisherman to take home for approval the rod he may fancy 

 in a shop, and to try it with a line for some ten minutes 

 over water, or on his lawn, and also compare its casting 

 properties with some well-tried rod, before deciding on its 

 purchase. If the novice cannot by such means select one, 

 he should obtain the advice of some experienced friend 

 before he finally decides on his rod. 



The action of a rod cannot easily be judged in a shop. 

 The muscles which are used in such a trial are unfatigued, 

 and the space and time for the trial are both too limited 

 to permit of the ill effects of the faulty action of an ill-made 

 rod to be realized, or those of a good rod thoroughly 

 appreciated. 



If it were possible by machinery to convert a bamboo 

 from its virgin state into a split cane rod in its finished 

 condition as seen in the shop, a standard rod might, under 

 certain circumstances, be obtainable. But bamboos differ, 

 and are not always of an exactly equal degree of excellency, 

 and however even or similar in appearance a shipment of 

 bamboos may be, each bamboo will have its own individual 

 quality, strength and elasticity, and therefore, for this 

 reason alone, if a machine-made rod were possible, a 

 considerable difference would exist in each rod. When it 

 is remembered that not only do bamboos differ that more 

 than one man is employed in making each rod that each 

 of these differ not only in their sense of touch, experience, 

 and judgment, but in their moods and capabilities, and also 



