226 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. . PART I. 



But first for your Line. First note, that you are to 

 take care that your hair be round and clear, and free 

 from galls, or scabs, or frets: fora well-chosen, even, 

 clear, round hair, of a kind of glass-colour, will prove as 

 strong as three uneven scabby hairs that are ill chosen, 



iihing at the bottom, whether with running-line or float, the reed or cane, 

 rod is. on account of iu lightness and elasticity, the best, especially if you 

 angle for those fish which bite but tenderly, as Roach and Dace. And of these 

 there are rods that put up. and make a walking-stick. There are others in 

 many joints, that put up together in a bag. and are therefore called bag-rods ; 

 there last are very useful to travel with, as they take but little room. Next to 

 these is the hsel ; but that is moie apt to warp than the cane ; these, as also 

 excellent fly-iods, are to be had at all the fishing-tackle shops in London, and 

 thereloie need DO particular description : only be careful, whenever you be- 

 speak a rod of reed or cane, that the workman does not rasp down into the 

 bark which grows round the joints, a fault which the makers of rods are often 

 guilty of; the consequence whereof is, that the rod is thereby made weaker at 

 the joints than elsewhere; and there being no bark to repel the wet, it soon rots, 

 and, whenever yon hook a large fish, ceitaiuly breaks. 



But if you live iu the country, and are forced to make your own rods, take 

 these direction*: 



Between the tatter end of November and Christmas, when the sap is goun 

 down into the roots of tree*, gather the ffraightest hasels you can find, for stocks; 

 and let them, at the greatest end, be about an inch or moie in diameter: at the 

 aame time gather shoots of a less sixe, for middle pieces, and tops: tic them 

 together in a bundle, and let them lie on a dry floor : at the end of fifteen or 

 sixteen months, match them together ; and to the slender ends of the tops, after 

 cutting off about eight or ten inches, whip a fine taper piece of whalebone of 

 that length : then cut the ends of the stock, the middle-piece, and the top, with 

 long slant, so that they may join exactly to each oilier ; and spread some 

 shoemaker's-wax, very thin, over the slants ; bind them neatly with strong waxed 

 thread ; and, lastly, fix a strong loop of horse-hair to the whalebone. Let the 

 rod. so made, lie a week to settle, before you use it. In this manner, also, you 

 are to make a fly-rod ; only observe that the latter must be much slenderer from 

 the end of the stock, than the former. 



But for the neatest fly-rod yon caa make, get a yellow whole-deal board that 

 is free from knots, cut off about seven feet of the best end, and saw it into some 

 square breadths ; let a joiner plane off the angles, and make it perfectly round, 

 a little tapering, and this will serve for the stock ; then piece it to a fine 

 straight hasel, of about six feet long, and then a delicate piece of fine-grained 

 yew, planed round like an arrow, and tapering, with whale-bone, as before, of 

 about two feet in length. There is no determining precisely the length of a fly- 

 rod ; but oue of fourteen feet is as long as can be well managed with one hand. 

 To colour the stock, dip a feather in aqna-fortis, and with your hand chafe it 

 into the deal, and it will be of a cinnamon colour. 



Bnt before you attempt this sort of work, you must be able to bind neatly, 

 and fasten off; for which directions are given in the Notes on Chap. XVII. 



When the season is over, and jou have done with your rods, take them to 

 pieces, and bind the joints to a strait pole, and let them continue so bound till 

 the season returns for using them again. See more directions about the fly- 

 rod. Part 1 1. Chap. V. 



Rods, for Barbel, Carp, and other large fish, should be of hasel, and propor- 

 tionally stronger than those for Roacb and Dace. And note, that for fly-fishing 



