CHAPTER V. 



THE TROLLING AND WORM ROD. 



" With rod and line I sued the sport 

 Which that sweet season gave." 



WORDSWORTH. 



HIS, like all other rods, is obtained most 

 easily from a tackle-dealer. If care, how- 

 ever, be not taken in the selection, the 

 Angler will find his purchase heavy, un- 

 wieldy, and comparatively useless. This 

 rod should be light and sufficiently stiff up to the point, 

 or it will not answer for the work to which it has to be 

 applied. It is generally about thirteen feet long, which 

 is sufficient for most trout streams, and this length is 

 comfortably manageable with one hand. 



A useful and light rod may be made by any handy 

 man, that is, if he has any idea about a rod. For this 

 purpose he should procure a piece of nice straight- 

 grained fir, about an inch and a quarter or an inch and 

 a half in diameter each way, and about seven feet long. 

 This he should plane down square, so that it tapers 

 gradually from one end to the other, but not too small. 

 He should next get some slips of lance-wood, square but 

 tapering, splice and glue them together, having the thick 

 end of the same diameter as the thin end of the butt ; he 

 may then splice and glue the two parts of the rod 



