PIKE-TACKLE. ii 



But a trusty rod and tried, 



Warp'd by service though it be, 



Toughens in adversity. 

 And clings the nearer to thy side. 



Cherish it for thine own sake, 



For the record of events 



Hanging on its accidents. 

 And the memories these awake. 



Ferrule bent — distorted ring- 

 Top curtail'd or past repair — 

 The continual wear and tear, 



And relaxing of its spring. 



Every notch by knife impress'd, 



Ranging up and down the butt, 



In its form of cross or rutt. 

 Is to thee of interest. 



In the fortunes of thy wand 

 Thou hast part, no common part ; 

 And the beatings of thy heart 



With its triumphs correspond. 



Give it place in thine abode — 



In thy dwelling's inner shrine — 



In the chamber made divine 

 By love and faith, lay up thy rod. 



A capital spinning-rod may be made from the spliced-cane 

 grilse-rod described in the first volume. The rod, which 

 was made by Messrs. Hardy Bros., fishing-tackle makers, of 

 Alnwick, has the additional strength given by a steel spring 

 centre — a specialty in spliced rods of which, I believe, Messrs. 

 Hardy alone, or almost alone, possess the secret. In order to 

 turn the fly-rod into a spinning-rod, or indeed a rod suitable 

 for any sort of jack-fishing, it is only necessary, when giving 

 the order for the rod, to include an additional (short) top. The 

 length of mine is three feet (ferrule excluded) as against four 

 feet seven inches in the ordinary fly top, and it seems to be 

 about a happy medium. 



