CH.IV.] | CUT-AND-THRUST ROD-SPEAR. 61 
leaving the other half bare. Thrust this bare 
end into the pith of an elder or withy stick 
about four feet in length, which you can cut 
when likely to want it, and, after giving the string 
two or three turns round the stick, bring it up 
to your hand, having previously made a loop in the 
end to hold it by. The act of striking a fish 
will bring the gaff out of the stick, which you 
may drop altogether, the line on it being quite 
sufficient to land him with, 
A rod-spear made on the principle of the 
annexed drawing, to cut and thrust, may not un- 
Fig. 9. 
Cut-and-thrust Rod-spear. 
frequently be found of service for cutting away 
twigs or weeds in which your fly has got en- 
tangled, they being often just too far for the 
fisherman to reach with the ordinary appliances 
at hand. Many a good fish has been lost for 
want of such a thing, and that in the most ag- 
gravating way possible, when quite exhausted 
and all but within reach of the net, by the bob- 
fly getting hung up. 
