RODS. 79 



being sooner or later called into requisition. If the size of the 

 water demands a larger rod, then I should advise a double- 

 handed rod at once. Such a rod should not exceed thirteen 

 feet, nor weigh more than from i6 to i8 oz. 



Ladies' rods can hardly be too light for real pleasure, as 

 not only their wrists are weaker and their muscles softer than 

 ours, but they have seldom acquired the knowledge of using 

 what physical powers they do possess to the best advantage. 

 This is half the battle, as anyone knows who has tried to lift 

 a trunk that some diminutive porter, perhaps, has just been 

 carrying about in a light and airy fashion as if it were a mere 

 feather-weight. Eight feet and a half, or so, is ample for a 

 lady's single-handed fly rod, and such a rod should not exceed 

 eight ounces in weight. These are the measurements of a 

 spliced rod belonging to a lady of my acquaintance ; which 

 is as serviceable and handy a little 'tandem lasher' as a 

 trout can wish to be coaxed with. It was made by Mr. Jas. 

 Ogden, of Cheltenham, whose 8^ and lo feet spliced rods — 

 of greenheart, N.B., not blue Mahoe — are excellent. With 

 one of these latter rods I have killed, during several years 

 past, I hesitate to say how many stone weight of brown and 

 white trout — some of them up to 4 lbs. — and it is still as sound 

 in every respect as the day I first put it together. It has had 

 to take its chance with all sorts of rough work — boat and bank 

 — but not even a ring is bent. This last is owing to the form 

 of ring with which it is fitted. 



The cut shows the form of this ring, now called the 



* snake ' ring, to which I have to some extent, it might be said, 



* stood god-father.' At any rate, since prominent attention was 

 first called to it in ' Modern Improvements in Fishing Tackle 

 and Fish Hooks,' it seems to have become tnore or less the 

 ' fashion ' with tackle makers, and, therefore, it may be pre- 

 sumed, with their customers. A, B, c, and d are facsimiles 

 of snake rings — which should be eight in all— suited to my 

 pattern of 13 ft. 6 in. salmon rod. For trout rods of all kinds 

 the rings should be both smaller and of lighter wire. The 



