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this pattern of ring that Mr. Slater, the well-known tackle 

 manufacturer of Newark, made his winning cast of 59 yards 8 

 inches at a recent anglers' " tournament." 



COMBINATION RODS. 



Of rods, the ostensible object of which is by a variety of 

 butts and tops to fulfil half a dozen different roles, a great many 

 have from time to time been introduced, but, as a class, I have 

 no very robust faith in them. Some, however, it must be 

 admitted, display considerable ingenuity of arrangement. Of 

 such I might instance a beautiful silver-mounted creation, with 

 I do not know how many fascinatingly shaped tops, joints, and 

 butts, the latter only a foot or a foot and a half long, and made 

 of a wood altogether too lovely to run the risk of disfigurement by 

 contact with the elements. This rod I prize highly, as it was 

 " presented " to me many years ago through a London Banker, 

 as an expression of sympathy, which I most cordially reciprocate, 

 between anglers of the Old and New World. Mr. James Ogden, 

 of Winchcombe Street, Cheltenham, has also brought to the 

 birth a truly ' delicate monster ' of this Protean family. He christens 

 it the Ne plus Ultra ; and now we have a still younger candidate 

 for ' piscatorial ' honours in the form of a fly rod of many qualifica- 

 tions lately brought into being by that most enterprising of firms, 

 Hardy Brothers, of Alnwick. The first difficulty in the case of these 

 rods is to put them together ; the second is to take them to pieces 

 again, and stow their several component parts in the allotted 

 " bags." Although Hardy's rod is only designed as a many 

 sided fly rod, it boasts of no less than eight joints. There is also 

 something a little awe-inspiring in the mere designation of this 

 wooden Briareus " Hardy's new combined n feet single hand 

 and 13 feet double handed trout rod" 2 3 feet altogether ! . . . 

 But joking apart there are, I daresay, many fly -fishers to whom 

 the combination of the two rods in one would be a convenience, 



