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fisher who does not wish to have his errand 

 known as he travels towards Hornsey or Tottenham 

 Mills. The small leading rings, of brass wire, on 

 trouting-rods are frequently so badly soldered where 

 the ends meet, as to open almost as soon as 

 a heavy fish is hooked. Five out of thirteen rings 

 on a showy London-made rod began to gape and let 

 the line through on the first day that it was used by 

 a friend of the writer. Tackle-makers ought to be 

 more attentive to have the rings well soldered; and 

 the angler who wants a rod for use, and not for 

 mere show, will have the rings made of harder and 

 stouter wire than is now generally used. The ring 

 at the end of the rod ought always to be close to the 

 top-piece, without the two ends of wire, forming a 

 sort of continuation of it, to be bent, like a crooked 

 pin, with the slightest pull. 



A salmon rod is usually from eighteen to 

 twenty feet long; and the latter length is to be 

 preferred where a person can use it freely. A 

 long rod not only enables the angler who is" 

 perfectly master of it to cast farther, but it also 

 gives him greater power in killing the fish when 

 hooked, by using the but as a counterpoise, while 

 a comparatively slight movement of his hand, as the 

 centre of motion, causes the top to describe a con- 

 siderably greater arc, than a rod three or four feet 

 shorter; an important consideration when the fish 

 runs suddenly in, and the reel cannot be wound up 

 so quick as to take in the slack line. The salmon- 



