TRENT FISHING. 21 



this is impossible, only thereafter to have to pack up and go 

 home in a not very amiable frame of mind at your fine bar- 

 gain of a rod. The best plan in such a case would be to 

 throw the pieces in the river, and go to the tackle-maker, 

 and buy a good one. These are the cheapest in the end ; 

 tell him what you want, pay a fair price, and leave the 

 matter in his hands, and ten to one you will be suited 

 nicely. 



Since I penned the above lines for the first edition of this 

 little book, I have had considerable experience in the construc- 

 tion of all kinds of rods, and so perhaps it will be as well just 

 here to look at this question of rods and rod- making a little 

 closer, because, as I have just hinted, a Nottingham bottom 

 fisher's rod is an article on which he very much prides 

 himself, and it must be made so that it is exactly suited for 

 this style of fishing. Years ago, before the famous splice of 

 the middle joint was introduced, Nottingham rods used to 

 be generally made in four joints, and the few three-joint 

 rods that were seen in the hands of certain anglers had the 

 middle joint made of ash, and as a natural consequence these 

 rods never worked comfortably, because the ash, being so 

 much heavier than the rest of the wood, caused the rod to 

 feel heavy and clumsy in the middle. However, since the 

 three-joint rod has been brought out to perfection, the four- 

 joint one is only very seldom seen in the hands of a first- 

 class Nottingham angler. 



It is really astonishing, and sometimes very amusing, to 

 read the letters I am constantly receiving from anglers all 

 over the country about rods and rod-making. Some of my 

 correspondents say that they should prefer a rod made with 

 the butt of one sort of wood, the middle of another sort, and 

 the top of something else, utterly forgetting that the different 

 woods they recommend are entirely opposed to each other as 

 regards weight, strength, and pliability, and therefore, if made 

 as recommended, would not have in them the desired spring 

 and action. 



Some rod-makers, in order to turn out a lot of work in a 

 very little time, make their rods by machinery. Now, 

 machine-made rods are very true, and look very nice, but 



