808 THE LENGTH OF THE ROD. 



to have one hundred and twenty on my reel, he would 

 certainly have broken me. The late Sir F. Sykes, a first- 

 rate rod, was run out and broken, with one hundred yards, 

 on the same spot but a few days before. At about one 

 hundred and ten yards I got on terms with him ; and, to 

 see this twelve pound fish leaping out of the water, at such 

 a distance from me that he did not look larger than a 

 good-sized trout, it was difficult to imagine that there was 

 any connecting link between us. I had no boat, and 

 wading was out of the question. Another ten yards, and 

 lie would have bid me good-bye. But the tackle was new 

 and sound, the rod well set up in the lower joints, and 

 for the last twenty or thirty yards I let him have it heavily ; 

 and this, with the weight of the line, stopped him. So 

 that, in lake-fishing, if your rod be short it must not be 

 weak. 



In boat-fishing on a river also a long rod is not desirable. 

 Where a long rod is of advantage is upon a good-sized 

 sporting river, fishable from the shore, where you have 

 broken ground and water ; and where you must often run 

 with your fish, where perhaps wading is frequently in- 

 dispensable ; and where an extra foot of rod will at times 

 enable you to carry your line over some big stone, rock, or 

 bush, which would perhaps cause you inevitable grief with 

 a shorter rod ; and where long casting is required, or where 

 there are high or awkward banks behind you, with rugged 

 stones and roots to smash your hook on. Under such cir- 

 cumstances the angler should use as long a rod as he well 

 can. For a man of short stature and not too robust frame, 

 from sixteen and a half to seventeen and a half feet should 

 be about the limit ; for a man of moderate capacity, from 

 seventeen to eighteen and a half, or a little more ; for a 

 tall strong man, from eighteen or eighteen and a half to 

 twenty or even twenty-one. I have known as much as 

 twenty-two feet used. The Master of Lovat, I am told, 



