146 Wet-Ply Fishing 



or 5X drawn gut is used, and the trout 

 run of large size. There can be little or no 

 " give and take " in a very stiff rod. 



One must remember that 4X and 5X, 

 and indeed all " drawn " gut was wholly 

 unknown in Mr. Stewart's day. Mr. Stewart 

 is perfectly right when he says that a very 

 weak, pliant rod, is useless for casting in the 

 teeth of the wind, a thing which I myself 

 seldom experience much difficulty in doing ; 

 for, although "The Tod Bod" is not built 

 on such a model as Stewart loved, it pos- 

 sesses backbone, which means that it has 

 good driving-power, whenever it is called 

 upon. Nevertheless, it likewise possesses 

 the delicacy, which is almost as essential. 

 " The Tod Bod," I may explain, is made 

 up thus. The butt and middle joints are 

 of hickory, and the top of greenheart. All 

 greenheart doubtless makes a splendid rod 

 for salmon-fishing, but it has certain objec- 

 tions in a fly-rod used for trout-fishing, 

 especially with very fine tackle. It is un- 

 deniably a heavy wood, and sometimes is 

 liable to brittleness. 



Last, but not least, it does not yield 

 easily and gently to a plunging acrobatic 

 trout, as hickory does. An old Scotch fisher- 

 man (" Will Tait ") once described, in words 



