Fishing Eods. 157 



But, to refer to my rod again : I can easily cast a min- 

 now from forty to fifty yards, and with great accuracy, 

 the back being just stifE and yielding enough for this 

 purpose. The bend from the last third of the butt-piece 

 to the tip forms a true curve under the strain of a hard- 

 pulling fish, which is the bend so desirable, and so hard to 

 obtain. The strain falls equally upon the entire rod, so 

 that it is impossible for me to tell just where it would 

 break. The weak part of an imperfect rod can always be 

 felt by an expert angler, and he knows perfectly well, while 

 playing a fish, just where the rod is weakest, and just where 

 it would fail. 



I have been informed by some makers that occasionally 

 an angler will order a Henshall rod with the butt extending 

 below the reel clamps a foot or more, so as to reach under 

 the elbow, and thus form a point d'appui. This demand 

 is founded on the use of the old-style rods, which were so 

 heavy and long as to require either this support, or what 

 was worse, the holding of the rod with both hands. The 

 object of the modem black bass rod is to dispense entirely 

 with this ungraceful and clumsy style, and enable the rod 

 to be used with the hand alone, as in fly fishing. 



The novice will be sometimes told by theoretical anglers 

 that he must procure a rod which accords with his size, 

 strength, and general build; that a rod which suits one 

 angler, will be too long, too short, too heavy, or too light 

 for another. Now, this is all gammon; a rod must be 

 made to suit the kind of fish, and the mode of fishing, with- 

 out any reference whatever to the angler himself. 



In ordering a shot-gun that is to be used on all kinds of 

 game, from the lordly buck to the dainty quail, it is of the 

 highest importance that the gun should be built to fit the 

 sportsman in every particular, and he then varies the charge 



