76 AMATEUR RODMAKING 



rods of various lengths and with reels and 

 lines, in fishing and in tournament casting, have 

 convinced me that if we make our bait-casting 

 rods as delicate, relatively, as our fly-rods, and 

 still retain ample resilience, strength, and back- 

 bone, $ l / 2 feet seems a very good average 

 length. 



Numerous well-known advocates of short 

 rods have arrived at the same conclusion. So 

 well known are they that their advice seems 

 worthy, especially as their conclusions have 

 been proved sound by the vast number of 5^- 

 foot rods used in the national casting tourna- 

 ments and in bass fishing. 



Sometimes it is said that the modern bait- 

 casting rod, like the long bow of merry Eng- 

 land, should be proportioned to the owner's 

 height and strength. There may be some- 

 thing in this, but I would hesitate to assert 

 that a six-footer should select a rod of his 

 height, and a man of medium stature one of 

 five feet. 



Who was first to advance this theory I do 

 not know, but Alfred Ronalds, in his "Fly- 

 Fisher's Entomology" (London, 1836), said 

 of salmon and trout fly-rods: 



" Like the bow of the archer, the rod of the 

 angler should be duly proportioned in dimen- 



