280 THE SALMON FLY. 



suit him, and educate his taste to that ; then, taste is good, it is founded 

 on reason and fact, and the result in practice must be sound. 



Eods of this calibre are built of well-seasoned materials, and are, how- 

 ever, not merely ideal, but are to-day realities in actual existence and use 

 in several well-known hands. 



In proceeding to adduce facts and to reason from them, I wish to 

 emphasize what I have already implied, that, our aim should be sport, 

 not mere prowess. There is, I think, a material difference between the 

 two. Sport includes comfort and a more or less continuous and pervading 

 sense of direct pleasure elements that are often wanting in the display 

 of mere prowess. In the best style of rod, therefore^ its capability to 

 promote sport should be thought of before all else. 



In determining the absolutely best type of rod, to be deviated from 

 only in the particular feature and to the particular degree ascertained to 

 be needed in each case, we must repeat a first great general principle. It 

 is this : that muscles, rod-butt, middle, top and line right down to the 

 fly itself shall form one instrument " compound organ," so to speak 

 harmonious and unbroken in action, and imbued with ready obedience to 

 the Angler's eye and brain an organ adapted right through for one 

 purpose. Practice, and that alone can give a man the power of so 

 exerting his brain and strength. The rod and line are to be, as it were, 

 part of the man, though distinct from the man, and they are to be in such 

 unity, so well adapted to each other, that, such a rod and line in this or 

 that man's trained hands on his particular water shall give for him better 

 returns than any of the others. 



Now let us see how and why our old acquaintance the " trouty " 

 Salmon rod with its light line has been of late years left in the 

 lurch, just as the breech-loader has displaced the old-fashioned muzzle- 

 loader. 



The general requirements of Trout-fly fishing have necessitated that 

 the rod for that branch of spott should be adapted for throwing a com- 

 paratively light line and that mainly by action from its top. Here is the 

 fundamental and generic difference between your true Trout rod and your 

 true Salmon rod. For the latter, to achieve its specific purposes, should 

 be worked with a line that is out of proportion heavier than the Trout line, 



