228 A BOOK ON ANGLING 



the old rods do many of them manage as yet to hold their own in 

 Norway, and they always must do so to some extent, for you 

 cannot be whirled by rail to the Arctic circle in twenty-four 

 hours, and the more distant rivers consume more time to go to 

 and to come from than the great bulk of salmon-fishers of the 

 present day can afford to give to the journey. Another 

 unfortunate feature, however, now largely prevails. Salmon 

 can, by the aid of huge stores of ice which are easily secured, 

 be sent to England profitably, and large quantities are thus 

 sent from the more approachable rivers, and netting is rapidly 

 increasing to an injurious extent. 



There are fifty salmon-fishers now for one of twenty years 

 ago. The fisherman who had killed salmon was then looked 

 upon as a tremendous creature. It was something as excep- 

 tional as shooting a gorilla, was this killing of a salmon with a 

 fishing-rod. Now the exception is all the other way. 



But I ought not to find fault with the increasing popularity 

 of my favourite sport ; and, with this civil growl de piscatoriis 

 rebus, I proceed to explain the mysteries of the art. So travel 

 a little farther with me, young trout-fisher, and it shall not be 

 my fault if you do not know all that I know about it. 



THE ROD* 



The first consideration for the would-be salmon-fisher is the 

 rod. This should be proportioned to his height and strength. 

 Nothing looks so absurd as a little ambitious individual 

 labouring under a huge threshing-machine as big as a sloop's 

 mast, which he is manifestly unequal to the wielding of easily ; 

 and not only does it look badly, but it works badly. A rod 

 two or three ounces heavier or inches longer than is comfortable 

 to the angler, tells dreadfully between the shoulders and on the 

 loins in a long day's fishing ; and it is useless to suppose that 

 practice will make it come much easier : a man who is over- 

 weighted is overweighted, and all the practice in the world 

 will only serve to do harm instead of good, to strain instead 

 of to strengthen. Even a rod that seems at the first grasp 



* Francis's advice about rods would have been greatly modified had he 

 lived to see the great improvement that has taken place in this part of the 

 angler's equipment during the last thirty years. The use of adhesive tape for 

 binding splices has restored the spliced rod to the position it held before the 

 slip ferrule came into use ; while for those that prefer (and care to pay for) 

 a split cane rod, the bayonet fastening obviates all the inconvenience of 

 ferruled joints. ED. 



