THE ROD FOR BAIT-CASTING 107 



just about the hardest fighting game fish that swims, re- 

 sisting to the limit in both the water and the air ; and 

 the angler who makes a specialty of bass fishing must 

 be prepared to handle a fish of from one to five pounds 

 two pounds frequently and very often more a 

 very different matter from the usual quarter- or three- 

 quarter pound brook trout. 



The situation resolves into something like this: If 

 your fishing is to be done in unobstructed waters, where 

 the bass may be safely given his head and where the rod 

 need never be brutalized, use a casting rod of split- 

 bamboo, six-strip preferably; this for the reason that, 

 equally as in the case of the fly-rod, the split-bamboo 

 casting rod, of good quality, is in a class by itself. But 

 if you fish in weedy lakes and rivers flowing through 

 woodlands, where the run which may be allowed the 

 bass is strictly limited, and where, at some period of the 

 play, it is practically certain that you will have to give 

 the butt, it is very much the best plan to use a good, 

 sturdy solid wood rod. For ease and pleasure of han- 

 dling and the utmost efficiency in casting the split- 

 bamboo; for hammer-and-tongs bass fishing, the usual 

 sort, a solid wood rod will give you better service. 



Solid wood rods for bait-casting may be had, as above 

 noted, in noibwood, bethabara, greenheart and lance- 

 wood. Their respective merits are in the order stated. 

 The noibwood rods are, unfortunately, controlled by a 

 single tackle firm and, consequently, " come high." I 

 have used one of them a great deal and may say unre- 



