June, 1918 
FOREST AND STREAM 
349 
THE POPULAR TWO-PIECE FRANK DAY ROD 
IT IS NOT PATENTED AND MAY BE MADE OF CANE, HEDGE OR BAMBOO, AND 
YOU WILL BE SURPRISED AT ITS LIGHTNESS, UTILITY AND EXCELLENT BALANCE 
Landing a fighter with the Day rod 
T HE Frank Day rod is going some¬ 
where, but has not arrived. I do not 
know where it is going, but I should 
guess that it is going into the printed cata¬ 
logue and I do know why it is going—■ 
its growing popularity is the proof of its 
superiority. 
This rod is a two-piece affair, made of 
cane, hedge or bamboo, but usually of cane. 
If it were made of bamboo and put out by 
a reputable factory, I should say that it 
had arrived. 
The best specimen of Day rod that I 
ever saw is the property of Frank Day 
himself, a man who has fished and hunted 
over a large part of the United States, 
who has acquired the art of casting with 
the short rod to a degree approaching ab¬ 
solute perfection, and who describes him¬ 
self as “a runt on the butt end of a two- 
piece rod.” Day’s rod is ten feet long, the 
tip piece being about an inch shorter than 
the larger joint. The tip is of bamboo. 
The larger piece is of cane with a rubber 
butt pad. It is mounted with light agate. 
When you first look at such a tool, you 
are not impressed. You make some polite 
remark, and pass the rod back to its owner. 
That is what I did. But a friend of mine 
By ALBERT E. ANDREWS 
made one, twelve feet long, and liked it. 
Then he made one nine and a half feet 
long, and liked it better. Then I made 
one twelve feet long, and liked it. I fished 
with it one vacation around St. Joseph, 
Michigan, and every one who saw me 
thought I was a chump. 
In 1916 a friend and I went down a river 
on the Indiana-Michigan line. To start the 
trip we had to paddle through three lakes. 
I sat in the stern of the canoe, and invited 
my friend to cast. He used an excellent 
model of short rod. Then I rigged up a 
Frank Day model of hedge (osage orange) 
seven and a half feet long, and invited him 
to try that. It did not look good to him 
because it had a cane grasp and showed 
the evidences of my inexpert work; but he 
cast with it, and was a convert. After that, 
aside from our fly rods, there was just one 
rod in the outfit of seven that was much 
used. On our next trip we will carry 
probably three of the Frank Day model. 
They handle perfectly from the bow of a 
canoe. 
If you want a rod of this sort, you can 
make one as follows : 
Get two or three good cane poles. Select 
the butt of one for the grasp. Make it 
long enough to include the reel seat and 
extend over the upper grasp above the 
reel. Select your middle piece from one of 
the three rods, and then take the best top 
piece you can find for your tip, being care¬ 
ful that your tip and middle piece will take 
ferrules to match. File the Upper part of 
the grasp piece at the upper end until it 
tapers to a thin edge. Split the filed part 
five or six inches back into eighths or 
sixths. The larger end of your middle 
piece should be of a size to fit in the end 
that is split. Insert your middle piece, and 
glue or cement it. Bind it with wire, and 
set it away until it is solid. Then remove 
the wire bindings, and dress the joint down 
smoothly. Wrap this joint for your upper 
grasp. Your reel seat should be fitted to 
your reach, being just high enough so that. 
With the butt of the rod immediately over 
your last meal, and with the rod in a nat¬ 
ural fishing position, your right hand will 
reach the reel handle with the right elbow 
resting at the side of your ribs. Getting 
the reel located correctly saves muscles in 
a hard day’s casting. Hollow out the reel 
seat slightly. Have a tinner put on brass 
reel bands. Wrap your lower hand grasp. 
The first two pieces selected are now one, 
forming the lower joint. Put on your fer¬ 
rules, wrap on your guides and cement a 
rod top and you have a Frank Day rod. 
Make your base piece well. Your first 
tip may be defective, and if your large 
piece is well made you can wear out an 
indefinite number of tips with it. Select¬ 
ing good cane is an art. You will soon 
learn from color and from tests what pieces 
are suited for good tips. Your first joint 
•will be fairly stiff, and your tip will be 
willowy. This combination gives you a 
good switch for your casting. If you are 
wise you will make your tip an inch shorter 
than your first joint, so that it will be pro¬ 
tected when the two are carried in a case. 
Also, you will wrap both pieces, and the 
tip especially, with silk. When the whole 
job is done, you will be surprised at the 
lightness and utility of the rod, as well as 
its excellent balance. 
N OW for the casting: With the right 
hand just below the reel, in position 
for thumbing, and with the left at 
the butt, cast from the right side. Then, 
with the left hand at the top grasp, and 
with the right in position for thumbing, 
cast from the left side. If you have no 
ten-foot rod to try this with, you might 
try your favorite rod, using both hands. 
And then, imagine that same rod, still 
light and built right, in a ten-foot length. 
Imagine the accuracy you would have 
"with such a tool, and imagine playing a 
bass on that ten-foot length! 
That’s right, smile! You probably have 
a four and a half foot casting rod that 
will hurl a plug a city block. But listen: 
it isn’t casting distance, nor the reeling in 
of fish that make fishing. Accuracy and 
deftness in dropping the lure have every- 
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 373) 
The Frank Day rod in action 
