15 



For Salmon fishing a greater length, ex- 

 tending to seventeen or eighteen feet, and of 

 proportionate strength, will enable the lover 

 of this superior diversion to throw a greater 

 extent of strong tackle than the common 

 rods will admit of his doing. 



The chief consideration in the choice of a 

 rod, for whatever purpose it may be in- 

 tended, is, that it be free from knots or 

 cracks, and that it be regularly taper and 

 pliant from the butt to the point ; for if the 

 spring be not regular from one extremity to 

 the other, the check which the defective part 

 causes will severely strain, if it do not actu- 

 ally break the piece. By the term pliant, it 

 is not meant that the rod should be as lim- 

 ber and flexible as a cart whip, which ex- 

 treme ought as carefully to be guarded 

 against as too great stubbornness ; but that it 

 should play easily, and that the bend be 

 slightly perceptible even in the bottom or 



