THE PIKE, &.C. 
123 
truth than good taste, has observed, that if your hook and 
line be good, you may make shift with an indifferent rod; 
and he seems to ridicule ‘ those precise craftsmen who spend 
their time in admiring their instruments; * for he adds, that 
he has ‘often put a ring on his walking-stick, and with his 
line thus mounted, has killed his pike ; ’ and no one doubts 
him. We have also heard a boy discourse sweet music on a 
jew’s-harp; and yet, somehow, jews ’-harps have not super- 
seded the use of the violin, which is passing strange ! 
“ We shall not, however, have much difficulty in persuad- 
ing the true Angler that an appropriate rod will not only add 
to the success of his practice, but will render that practice 
more convenient and agreeable than otherwise. It will cer- 
tainly be more professionally characteristic. In the rod or 
rods used for jack fishing, the method to be employed, the 
nature of the water, and the probable size of the fish, are idl 
matters necessary to be taken into account. In live-bait 
fishing, and in trolling, a rod of nearly similar length and di- 
mensions is required ; but in snap-fishing, one of greater 
strength but diminished length is generally employed. In a 
very wide water, considerable length of rod is necessary for 
the purpose of reaching the probable haunts of the fish, and 
making a cast over the reeds or sedges which frequently skirt 
the banks and edges of some waters. Without a rod of con- 
siderable length, the bait often falls short, and not only misses 
its object, but gets torn by falling within, instead of without 
the reeds ; and an opening between weed-beds, (so likely a 
situation for jack,) either in rivers or lakes, can seldom be 
reached without a length rod. A proper rod, however, for 
the intended sport, not only adds to the pleasure of the prac- 
tice, but likewise to the success of it. Notwithstanding all 
which, it must be conceded, that in pike and jack fishing, it 
is more the method of the Angler than the merits of his rod, 
that is essentially requisite to his sport.” 
