THE PIKE ROD 75 



the line becomes more like a land measuring chain than a 

 fishing line ; and if it be too soft and sticky it is a perpetual 

 nuisance in casting, causing endless kinking, and the dressing 

 very soon wears off. It should be fifty or sixty yards long- 

 not that so much will be often required in fishing, but when 

 used well at one end it can be turned end for end with advan- 

 tage and answers all the purpose of a new line.* 



The rod used in spinning for jack should be from twelve 

 to fourteen or fifteen feet in length, with sufficient of spring 

 in it to cast a bait well and yet with good substance to stand 

 the strain and plunges of heavy fish should weeds intervene.! 

 Some anglers prefer the rod made of cane ; but if it be made of 

 cane, the only kind that should be used for it is bamboo, the 

 other canes having hardly sufficient substance in them. 

 Other persons prefer it made of solid wood, and of all woods 

 hickory is the best, with a strong spliced top. That is the 

 rod I prefer. But, whichever may be adapted, the rod should 

 be ringed with good sized stout, upright rings, to allow the 

 line to run through them with perfect freedom. If the angle 

 does not require to convey the rod from place to place, but is 

 in the habit of fishing the same water, and has a convenient 

 place for it, a single stick of bamboo, with winch fittings and 

 a short solid spliced top spliced into it, will be found as useful 

 and effective a rod as can be employed. I used a similar one 

 for years when I almost lived on the Thames, and never had 

 reason to complain of it, as it was both light and powerful. 

 It will be found very advantageous with the ordinary rod to 

 have two tops, the one a little shorter and stiffer than the 

 other, for heavy baits and big fish, as the use of heavy baits 

 with an ordinary top would soon strain and wear it out. Atten- 

 tion should be paid from time to time to the eye at the top of 

 the rod whence the line is delivered, as this is apt to wear 

 into grooves from the constant running friction of the line, 

 and if not seen to, these grooves get so sharp that they will 

 in once or twice using cut all the dressing off even a new line. 

 A very good plan is to have enclosed in the wire eye a movable 

 bone or mother-of-pearl ring, which can be turned round at 

 pleasure so as to shift the place over which the line runs. 

 Many eyes have been invented for the purpose of delivering 

 the line with the least amount of friction, and various 



* The fine, but exceedingly strong, line used in tarpon fishing has largely 

 supplanted the dressed silk lines in the use of spinning baits ED. 



f The length of pike rods has been generally reduced in late years. ED . 



