188 SALMON AND TROUT. 
which will be found suitable to his strength, it would be no loss 
to them, and would save a great deal of disappointment. It 
would, moreover, start the novice in the right road to success ; 
whereas, if he begins fishing with a big rod that is over his 
strength, he will-have probably to toil and‘labour for weeks 
before he can make a decent cast, which he might have suc- 
ceeded in accomplishing in a day or two if he had taken a 
friend’s advice. 
A seventeen-foot rod is quite long enough for any ordinary 
casting for salmon, provided it is of sufficient power. A sixteen- 
foot rod is long enough for peel or grilse fishing, or even for 
salmon, when the water is low and where fine tackle and small 
flies are required. Anyone who has read the reports of the 
Casting Tournaments at Hendon, will see what marvellous 
casts were made with sixteen-foot rods: but they must be 
made of good stuff, with plenty of lifling power. Fishermen 
of any experience will of course select a rod to suit their own 
fancy, but I strongly recommend the novice to make his first 
effort with a rod under his strength, and, above all things, to 
avoid using one with a weak, whippy top. 
The art of rod-making has been brought to great perfection 
in America ; the split-cane rods are marvellous works of art, 
and are being much used in this country ; but they are very 
expensive, and, as I cannot discover any particular advantage 
they possess over our old-fashioned English-made rod, I prefer 
~ to use the latter. 
THE REEL AND LINE, 
It is a great mistake to fish with a big, heavy reel, as every 
ounce of needless weight in reel or rod will tell against the 
angler in a hard day’s fishing, as surely as it does upon a race- 
horse when running a race. A man who thinks it necessary to 
fish with a big rod generally uses a big reel to match, with as 
much line as it will hold, very often needlessly thick. To make 
a clean cast the line must be used to suit the rod. When fish- 
