Selecting a Fly-rod. 45 



is a great inconvenience to be obliged to bring your Rod 

 home unfastened. 



In selecting a Fly-rod take care that its pliability (its 

 apparent or perceptible pliability at least) does not com- 

 mence until about a yard and a half from the butt. 



The writer has used for some years a three-pieced 

 splice-rod, only eleven feet in length, its weight being 

 eight ounces, not " fourteen" as Col. Hawker recommends. 

 The butt is of well-seasoned ash, the middle piece of 

 hickory, and the top of lancewood. Each piece when made 

 was without a splice in it ; it is therefore truly a three- 

 pieced rod ; and for its fineness he has never met with 

 one of equal power. It has a spring almost as smart as 

 if it were of steel, if he may use the comparison, and it 

 will consequently project a fly with the greatest precision, 

 and yet it is not stiff in the common acceptation of the 

 term, for a stiff rod of that kind is not fit for single-hair 

 fishing. 



Lightness in throwing and quickness in striking are 

 indispensable in Fly-fishing, therefore your rod should 

 scarcely ever exceed eleven or twelve feet; indeed your 

 rod can never be too light and manageable consistently 

 with the strength required for the kind of fishing you are 

 following.* 



There should not be a knot in any part of your rod that 

 is brought into springing action, as, if so, there it will 

 most certainly break whenever a strain takes place. If 

 the top and middle piece be made of several lengths joined 

 together, they should be cut from the same plank of wood, 

 if possible, for then their spring will be uniform ; that 

 is, one piece will not be stiffer or weaker than another ; 

 otherwise the Rod will be worthless. When it is said 



* The writer's finest Fly-rod, in four pieces, weighs only five ounces 

 and a half, and is eleven feet four inches in length. 



