40 THE PIKE. 



top joint. Some give the choice to a rod entirely 

 of greenheart, which is springy, but a wood that is 

 very treacherous and liable to fracture unless the 

 joints are rent from the plank, thereby ensuring 

 straight fibres ; if this is done no rod can be 

 better, but it is expensive. If, however, instead of 

 rending the joints they are sawn from the plank, 

 which is a common practice in the manufacture of 

 medium-price rods, the joints are very likely to 

 snap under the strain of playing a fish, or even 

 as I have more than once seen when an angler 

 has been making a cast with a rather heavy 

 bait. 



From a long acquaintance with angling and ex- 

 periences of rods of many kinds, my own opinion 

 is that nothing excels carefully selected East India 

 bamboo canes for spinning, paternoster fishing, 

 livebaiting, or trolling-rods ; they are light in the 

 hand, stiff, but have plenty of play, and make very 

 powerful weapons. My favourite pike rods have, 

 for the past twenty years, been made from these 

 canes ; and with them I have killed many heavy 

 pike, ranging from twenty pounds, through the 

 thirties, and up to thirty-six and thirty-seven 

 pounds weight. These rods have two interchange- 

 able tops, both of which pack into the butt a 

 great convenience, the angler having no spare top 

 joint to carry when he is at the river side, or maybe 

 the top lying about loose in a punt, at the risk 

 of being trodden on and broken. 



The rods are from ten to twelve feet long, 

 according to which top is used, the short one being 

 for livebait-snap and leger-fishing, the long top 

 for spinning and paternoster-fishing ; these two 

 tops answer admirably for each method mentioned, 



