FIRST EMPTYING. 45 



he says, " it is a fair rod," but he " should have preferred it a 

 trifle heavier in the butt." No. 2 is more candid, and says at 

 once it is a whippy beggar, and he would not give you 

 tuppence for it. No. 3 thinks it is a first-rate rod, a trifle 

 heavy perhaps, and not very well balanced, but still it is very 

 fair tackle. By this time you are half inclined to send the 

 rod back to Forrest and get another of a different build, 

 when No. 4 arrives, and after handling it carefully and nearly 

 breaking it in two in his efforts to see what it is fit for, he 

 remarks that he would be ashamed to own such a thing, and 

 walks off. Next day No. 5 has a go at it, he says it is too 

 heavy in the middle and too light in the butt. No. 6 says it 

 is a splendid rod all but the top joints, which are very fine 

 wood, but too thin. No. 7 would not have it as a gift, and 

 No. 8 says it is just the rod he has been trying to find ; it is 

 rather too stiff for his fancy, but if you are inclined to part 

 with it he will take it off your hands at 255. And so on. 

 These are everyday experiences and we all meet them. They 

 merely represent the fact that tastes differ. I have heard it 

 said that one of the most difficult things in this world is to 

 preserve harmony amongst the members of a mixed choir ; 

 but if you will take the first good rod you can lay your hands 

 on, and invite twenty-five different men to handle it, I will 

 eat it if you do not get twenty-five different opinions about it. 



SPINNING MINNOWS. 



A spinning minnow revolves in two ways, either on a 

 straight line or with a wobble, the majority of anglers being 

 in favour of the latter. It would seem reasonable to suppose 

 that, as in the case of artificial flies, trout take a revolving 

 bait for something they are accustomed to see, but no natural 

 minnow in his right mind ever took a straight spin of three 

 or four miles on a dead plane. Yet such a bait will kill. 

 On the other hand, a wobbling minnow, with its paralytic 



