228 FLY FISHING 



After fifteen years' experience of single-handed 

 split cane rods, I should without hesitation claim 

 for mine that they have kept their straightness 

 and lasted better than greenheart would have 

 done under the same amount of work, and they 

 have freed me entirely from the fear of a sudden 

 break of the top joint in casting a line however 

 long. 



Years ago, when my wrist was young and weak, 

 I found a difficulty in getting with one hand 

 the full amount of work out of a ten foot six 

 or eleven foot rod, which was powerful enough 

 to throw a line against a strong wind, and I 

 acquired as a boy the habit of fishing with the 

 reel turned up and pressed against my arm 

 above the wrist. This increases enormously the 

 leverage which the arm has upon the rod, and I 

 find that I can in this way fish easily with a 

 rod, which it would be quite beyond my power 

 to use single-handed in the ordinary way for any 

 length of time. I am bound to confess that I 

 have not succeeded in inducing my friends to 

 adopt this method, but I am convinced that it 

 enables me to do more work with less weariness 

 of the arm than would otherwise be the case, 



