FLIES AND FLY FISHING. 45 



my salmon or white trout rods made spliced ; but in 

 choosing a rod at the shops you do not find so many 

 spliced ones to select from, and you are always more 

 likely to get a single-handed rod to suit your taste by 

 choosing from several ready made, than by having one 

 built expressly for you. 



I prefer a ferruled rod to be of three joints, the wood of 

 wHch it is made must depend on the fisherman's own 

 ideas as to weight. All greenheart makes much too 

 heavy a rod for general use, although it is very good for 

 some purposes. Much the pleasantest rods to use are 

 those now made of blue mahoe wood by Ogden, but my 

 experience of them has not been long enough to say how 

 they will stand hard work ; their casting powers however 

 are very great. Double brazing rods, as it is called, is 

 always a great improvement ; all the joints ought to fit 

 quite home ; this they hardly ever do, and the play of a 

 rod, with half-an-inch of brass shewing out of the ferrules 

 is bad. The top ring of the rod should be made of some 

 hard material, instead of the soft wire generally used, as 

 otherwise the line soon notches and cuts through it. In. 

 spliced rods a small piece of bent wire, like that used to 

 fasten the joints together in ferruled rods, should be 

 whipped on at the thick end of each splice, and a long 



