PIKE-TACKLE. 9 



Trolling-rods. The wood really most suitable for the purpose, 

 and which as time goes on will, I have no doubt, come to be 

 more and more used, is bamboo. This wood possesses in 

 a special degree the qualities required for a spinning-rod, being 

 both light, strong, and of sufficient stiffness, and, it may be 

 added, pliability also, for the most perfect 'casting' of a 

 spinning bait and for the ' playing ' of it when it has been cast. 



I daresay many troUers — much better fishermen than I am 

 — will warmly, not to say hotly, dissent from this proposition. 

 Every angler has his own hobby on the subject of rods. One 

 man swears by a bamboo rod, another by lancewood or hickory, 

 and a third would lose half the enjoyment of his day's sport if 

 it were not to be effected by his trusty greenheart of early and 

 well-beloved associations. Its owner might say, and say with 

 truth, ' The difference you speak of in weight is exceedingly 

 small, and there is a certain " swishiness " and elasticity in 

 greenheart or hickory which is not to be got out of the most 

 carefully selected bamboo.' I find myself that I get quite 

 as much play, or ' swishiness,' as I want out of a four-jointed 

 bamboo rod with a greenheart top, and as regards weight, the 

 difference, slight as it is, tells decidedly in favour of the hollow 

 wood. 



The other hollow woods are practically useless for pike- 

 rods. The white cane, the greater part of which comes from 

 Spain and America, and is a fragile and delicate creature 

 compared to its swarthy Indian cousin, is used principally for 

 roach-rods — 'White Cane Roach-rods,' as they are tempt- 

 ingly described in the catalogues — and it is fit for nothing else ; 

 for this special purpose, however, it is perfection. Another 

 cane also that is quite inferior to the East Indian is the 

 Carolina ; it is lighter and longer between the knots, and is 

 commonly employed only in bottom-fishing rods of the com- 

 moner qualities. Last on the list comes the jungle cane, a 

 specialty of China, but found also in many other parts of 

 Asia. It grows as thick as a man's body, and is put by the 

 Chinese to a variety of uses, amongst others hollowing out the 



