ON FLY-RODS 



A FEW words on rods for fly-fishing. The 

 majority of rods are made, not primarily for 

 fishing, but for portability. When we had only 

 small coaches to squeeze ourselves and our rods 

 into, there was an excuse for this ; but as travel- 

 ling is now chiefly performed by steam, and as 

 a few feet in the length of a parcel is no objec- 

 tion, either upon the roof of a railway carriage, 

 or the deck of a steamer, it is high time that 

 there should be a radical reform in rod-making. 

 Lengths of five or six feet would rid us of at 

 least half the ferrules, diminish the expense, 

 and greatly increase the efficiency of fly-rods. 

 I may be allowed to observe, that I never saw 

 any kind of rod that would open a line half so 

 well, to say nothing of the lightness and comfort, 

 as a neat, handy, home-made rod, in two or 

 three pieces, without ferrules, made of such 

 materials, and in such a way, as some few 

 amateurs whom I have the pleasure of knowing 

 can make them. 



The greater number of fly-rods are also faulty 



in another respect. The spring is continued 



too far down. The object of this is to enable 



a long line to be thrown ; and as the top of the 



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