DESCRIPTION OF SPECIALL Y-MADE ROD 409 



get rid of the hook. A large proportion of these trout 

 are lost, for they never rise save on the roughest days, 

 and it is then a very difficult matter to stand steady 

 enough to play them in a fishing-coble. I have fished 

 for trout for the last forty odd years, but I have never 

 experienced such sport with any other fish as I have 

 with these black trout. 



The rod which I had made for their special benefit, 

 and with which alone I am able to cope with them, is 

 a single-handed twelve-foot rod, with plenty of wood for 

 some eight or nine inches above the reel. The butt 

 and middle joint of such a rod should be of ash, unless 

 a two-jointed spliced rod is not considered too cumber 

 some. Such spliced rods require to be carried in a 

 box when travelling, as they are very apt to sustain 

 damage when going by rail, etc., and if they are tied 

 on boards, the rings are likely to be twisted and 

 knocked off. 



All rods should be proportionate to the height and 

 strength of the fisherman. Nothing is more fatal to 

 his success, and nothing looks more unsportsmanlike, 

 than to see a man using a huge salmon-rod the size of 

 a mast. 



Many years ago, a sporting brother of mine was 

 sent out to Halifax with his regiment, and amongst 

 his other impedimenta he took out some three or four 

 Castle Connell rods. On the occasion of his first 

 appearing with one of the rods, which, by the way, 

 was a perfect ' switching ' rod, the other fishermen 

 who were present with him, and who were using heavy 

 rods, laughed at him, and declared that he would never 

 kill a salmon with such a ' tooth-pick ' of a thing ; but 

 before the first day was over, he had, to their astonish- 



