TEENT FISHING. 23 



required depth. Now this must weaken the rod where it 

 should be the strongest, i.e. close under the ferrule. So for 

 all practical purposes the peg should not be too long, nor 

 should the hole be too deep, but only just enough to steady 

 and stiffen the socket joint. 



As the top piece of a rod is a most important factor in its 

 success, it is of the utmost importance that this should be 

 carefully made and selected. There are several sorts of wood 

 that are suitable for tops, but in my opinion a bit of tough, 

 well-seasoned lancewood is the very best that can be used for 

 a float-fishing rod. 



We practical anglers consider that the fewer joints there 

 are in a rod, the better that rod is for practical purposes, and 

 if it was not for the look of the thing, we should have a rod 

 made all in one length, without any brass sockets to it at all ; 

 indeed, if I lived in a sweet little cottage that stands on the 

 banks of the Trent (a cottage that I have in my mind's eye 

 just now), I should certainly have one made so. But these 

 one-joint rods would be very awkward carrying about, 

 especially if you had to travel by train to your fishing- 

 ground. 



About a couple of years ago I made myself a chub, bream, 

 and barbel rod in two joints, an article that one of our very 

 best all-round men christened "The Corporation Rod," 

 because I was fishing the " Corporation " swim when he first 

 saw it. In fact, I made that rod on purpose to fish that 

 swim, and as there are several places up and down the Trent 

 as difficult to fish as it is, perhaps it might be as well just 

 here to give some little idea as to the kind of rod required 

 for that work. In the first place then, the swim is an abrupt 

 bend of the river, and is from twelve to fourteen feet deep, 

 and your float has to be cast out cleanly and squarely from 

 twenty to twenty-five yards from where you stand, and I 

 thought I could do this with greater ease if I built a special 

 rod for the purpose. It is, as I have just said, in two joints, 

 is twelve and a half feet long, light, but strong, and strikes 

 beautifully from the very point; in fact, it has been very 

 much admired by some of our best anglers. The only fault 

 there is in it is its extreme awkwardness to carry about when 



