144 The American Salmon fisherman. 



rod, which is necessarily the result of an effort on our 

 part to lift it since the salmon holds the end of the tip 

 down, its action as what a mechanic might term an 

 automatic pressure-regulator comes in play. This is one 

 of the most valuable functions of the fly- rod; -and, if it 

 has a good even bend, it is almost as perfect an instru- 

 ment within its sphere as is the human band in its wider 

 range of usefulness. If it has not been done before, 

 every effort to release the fly after the bend has been 

 given to the rod will usually be futile. If the point of 

 the hook is ah-eady in contact with the tissue, the elas- 

 ticity of the rod holds it there; while if not, it will prob- 

 ably find a hold on its way out of the fish's mouth. 



Here we find another reason for the course already ad- 

 vised in selecting a rod — that the rod be actually bent in 

 the shop, and that a true curve be insisted on. Not only 

 in casting the fly is such a rod superior to one defective 

 in this particular, but also in the most important function 

 of bridging over by its elasticity the intervals when the 

 angler has, through some unexpected movement of the 

 fish, for the moment lost command of his line. It is only 

 after a fish has altered its course that the angler can de- 

 tect the motion, and were the rod stiff the line would be 

 slack until the angler perceived the change and could 

 meet it by resorting to his reel. But though the angler 

 cannot, the rod can detect the manoeuvre at its very in- 

 ception, and by its elasticity neutralize the danger and 

 give the angler time to checkmate it. 



A rod which bends only at the tip can pick up but a 

 very limited quantity of slack line; while one which 

 bends locally instead of uniformly has but the elasticity 

 of the bending portion available for the emergency, in- 



