SPLICED RODS 419 



heart, of i8, 19, and 21 feet in length, but unless a 

 river happens to be a very wide one I seldom use 

 them, by reason of the labour they entail. 



Although they give more trouble to take down and 

 put together, I infinitely prefer to use rods which are 

 spliced. A well-known rod-maker, Macdonald by 

 name, of Inverness, once remarked, in my hearing, to 

 a gentleman who was ordering a ferruled rod, in pre- 

 ference to a spliced one, inasmuch as, he said, the 

 spliced ones were such a bother to tie : ' The man who 

 is too lazy to tie his rod is not fit to fish, and I'll make 

 no rod for him,' and the gentleman was forced to 

 abandon his order and leave the shop. Macdonald 

 was, for something over forty years, boatman to the 

 late Mr. Baillie, of Dafour, and was one of the very 

 best of rod-makers, and I am inclined to think that he 

 was quite right in what he said. In my opinion, there 

 is nothing like a spliced rod — such a rod as one in 

 which you ' may introduce the top to the butt ' without 

 fear of so much as a crack. These are the rods to do 

 the work, and will double up a fish in no time ; there 

 is no uneven stiffness, or catchy spring in the wrong 

 place ; everything goes as smoothly as the water they 

 cover. 



It is, where possible, the best plan to purchase one's 

 rods from a maker who has himself been, or is, a good 

 all-round fisherman. With such a man to deal with, 

 one's wants are readily understood and carried out. 



A rod-box, capable of taking some half-dozen rods, 

 is most useful. Different rivers require different rods, 

 and where, on one river, it is a necessity to use a 

 pliant rod, on another the reverse is the case, and the 

 services of a stiff rod have to be requisitioned ; but 



