26 The American Salmon-fisherman. 



mechanical common-sense of our English brethren is 

 somewhat obscured by respect for tradition. 



It is true that a longer rod will effectively handle a 

 somewhat longer line than a shorter rod. The limit 

 claimed for this advantage by its most hearty advocate 

 is five feet of additional line for each additional foot of 

 rod. I believe this to be excessive, but let it stand. 

 Then with an eighteen-foot rod fifteen feet more line can 

 be handled than with a fifteen -foot rod. When this has 

 been conceded to the longer rod, all that can be said in 

 its favor has been said. But is this advantage a prac- 

 tical advantage, and of practical value ? I think not. 

 Even the English authorities are substantially unanimous 

 in that a cast of seventy-five or eighty feet is a command 

 of distance ample for all practical purposes. But this 

 distance has been more than covered with a single-handed 

 rod ten and a half feet long. It must then be within 

 command of a double-handed rod fifteen feet long. 



Five and a half times the length of a rod is believed 

 by many to measure the effective distance which can be 

 covered with that rod in actual fishing. Though this 

 rule is certainly not very far out, still it must be applied 

 with a thorough understanding of the principles upon 

 which it is based, or it will mislead. In casting the fly 

 the rod is the fixed and the line the variable element. 

 It is obvious that the line cannot be moved or managed 

 except by the rod. From the rod is derived every im- 

 pulse which makes the line efficient in fly-fishing. When 

 the line is short and at a right angle with the rod, it is 

 clear that a given motion of the rod will impart the 

 maximum motion to the line. The line is then under the 

 most perfect possible control. 



