158 Book of the Black Bass. 



according to the game. But there is no analogy between 

 a shot-gun and a fishing rod ; the latter weighs but ounces, 

 where the former weighs jwunds, and the weight of a rod 

 for black bass angling will suit a weakly youth, or the 

 strongest man, as well.- A half-pound ia weight is of no 

 moment as compared to the strength of a man; and it is 

 all stuff, and the sheerest nonsense, to talk of making a rod 

 of this weight conform to the muscular requirements of 

 any individual. A well-balanced rod feels the same to the 

 weakest man or strongest, the tallest man or shortest; 

 while a rod that lacks this quality will feel right to no one. 

 I have no patience or sjTapathy with those visionary book- 

 anglers who talk or write such ridiculous nonsense or spin 

 such fine-drawn theories. 



A HoME-iiADE Black Bass Eod. 



As the black bass anglers of Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, 

 northern Alabama, and the south-west generally are ex- 

 tremely partial to a natural cane or bamboo rod, I desire 

 to tell them how to make a good one of this material at 

 little cost, and which, though not a " thing of beauty," will 

 prove itself a "joy forever," in comparison with the cane 

 rod, as generally used. After employing such a rod as I 

 am about to describe for one season, the angler will be 

 ready to advance another step, and adopt a good ash and 

 lancewood rod, which contingency, I am free to admit, is 

 the principal motive for this information. 



A natural bamboo cane, as it is procured at the tackle 

 stores, is from fifteeii to twenty feet in length ; and it is 

 the custom, in the localities named, to use from ten to 

 twelve feet of the smaller or upper end of such a cane for 

 a black bass rod, after attaching standing guides and a reel 

 fastening. While such a rod is strong and light, witii a 



