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and more especially of the top joint, should be proportioned 

 to the size of the fly or hook to be used. Thus, for small stream 

 flies, a stout rod is not only unnecessary, but positively 

 disadvantageous ; frequently leading to the escape of hooked 

 fish, or to the downright breaking of the hook or of the 

 line. " A delicate ' gossamer gut cast ' and a ooo jenny 

 spinner require, in order to do justice to their perfections, an 

 equally delicate rod top, which yields instantly to the slightest 

 strain, and keeps the rod bent and the line " taut," with a com- 

 paratively light pressure. Per contra, a large lake-fly hook the 

 barb of which takes three times the weight to bury itself 

 demands theoretically three times as powerful a rod ; and actually 

 it will be found that a limp rod for a small fly, and a stouter, 

 heavier one (N.B. not necessarily a longer one) for a large fly, give 

 the best results in practice. This principle I have carried out 

 as well in the case of the 14 feet greenheart salmon-rod, before 

 mentioned, as in that of my trout and trolling rods, the tops of 

 which last are graduated to the size of the bait and hooks to be 

 used. The green-heart rod, by the way, I had made entirely 

 without varnish of any sort. A little reflection will, I think, 

 induce my brother anglers to concur that all rods, and particularly 

 fly-rods, should be made thus.* Mr. Wells' recent experiments 

 have demonstrated that the higher an object is above the water- 

 level the more readily is it perceptible to fish- vision, and as 

 a consequence the elevated point of the rod, glittering as it sways 

 backwards and forwards in the sun, becomes a sort of beacon 

 light, warning the fish that there are, figuratively speaking, rocks 

 ahead, or at any rate something abnormal in their vicinity. If it be 

 objected that the varnish preserves the wood, and that the 



* I am not prepared to say that in the case split cane rods, the varnish 

 may not be an unavoidable necessity though an unfortunate one. The sec- 

 tions of the cane are cemented together with some sort of glue, upon which, 

 most likely, constant moisture would exercise a disintegrating effect, unless 

 polished or varnished. 



