96 TROUT FISHING 



to be impressed with an idea of the necessity of a 

 perfect rod will produce discontent, weaken reso- 

 lution, and withdraw our attention, in times of 

 disappointment, from the real cause of error, 

 which should be attributed to the workman, 

 rather than his tools. 



The rod we are now about to make use of is a 

 rod generally useful on various streams ; one that 

 a fisherman cannot well dispense with, and one 

 that will serve him in all purposes, and all times 

 or seasons, excepting bright water fishing on 

 small streams in low water, when a peculiar rod, 

 hereafter to be described, will be required. This 

 general rod then, we say, is about fourteen feet 

 in length, whether it consist of three or four 

 parts is rather a point of fancy in the fisherman's 

 niind than of real practical value. There are 

 many heavy objections to a fly rod of fourteen 

 feet being composed of more than four joints ; and 

 three-jointed rods, of such a length, may be ob- 

 jected to, from the awkward length of each joint, 

 rendering it inconvenient of carriage ; neverthe- 

 less, without doubt, the fewer the number of joints 

 forming a rod, the better ; indeed, if we desire to 

 have a perfect rod, we must put up with the dis- 

 agreeable awkwardness of fourteen feet of straight 

 wpod to carry, and have our rod made in one con- 

 tinuous piece. I do not mean to say of one and 

 the same piece of wood, but the several por- 

 tions selected to form different parts of the rod 

 should all be spliced together, so as entirely to 

 do away with the objectionable brass of a ferruled 



