822 
FOREST ANDssSPREAM: 







situation regarding bass fishing, and it is safe 
to bet that when the irrepressible Joseph is cross- 
ing Jordan or any other stream he. will have a 
line out, as in his enthusiasm he has been known 
to sit for hours in the stilly night with his baited 
hook out on a sandflat waiting for the tide to 
rise. Lron, ARD HULIT. 

Buying a , Fly-Rod. 
[From “ Vade Mecum of Fly-fishing for 
pe tere by P. R. Pulman, London, 
In the purchase of a fly-rod the purchaser 
must dismiss every idea of a whip, and re- 
member that the great desideratum is power, 
not pliability, and that stiffness is one of aS 
chief means by which that power can be 
tained, supposing the rod be correctly made in 
other respects. It must be obvious that con- 
siderable care should be taken in the selection 
of this important implement, seeing that upon 
it so much of the angler’s success depends 
To insure a good cast, or to strike and play 
a large fish properly with a bad rod—that is to 
say, with a rod which is either too pliable 
in the lower part and topheavy, or else too 
rigid throughout and of too cumbrous a size— 
amounts to sheer impossibility. 
A good rod does not begin to play much 
till about the middle, whence its elasticity in- 
creases ypward in proportion with the gradual 
tapering. It is made of such just and correct 
proportions, and its pliability is so nicely regu- 
Trout,” third 
1851.] 
ol i 
lated that, whatever be its weight, it balances 
so well in the hand as to feel very light 
and free in using. Such a rod is—to use a 
figurative phrase—a rara avis, a thing so sel- 
dom met with as to become a curiosity, a pis- 
catory treasure, ever to be valued by its for- 
tunate possessor, 
In our opinion fly-rods for the generality of 
trout streams in this country—we mean not 
of course the few riveré to fish which a double- 
handed rod is necessary—are usually made too 
arge and too long, or else their length is out 
of propore to their diameter, rendering 
them over pliable, and therefore comparative ely 
,owerless. A moderately stiff and small rod 
of eleven feet long possesses infinitely greater 
power, and is infinitely more pleasant to use, 
than a heavy, pliable one of fourteen feet in 
ength; in fact, the latter has no useful power 
—it will not throw against the wind, nor can 
it well, indeed, be used at all in very windy 
weather. Some peculiar properties it certainly 
does and among them are the unde- 
sirable ones of tiring the arm, failig to strike 

possess, 
or play a fish well, and causing constant en- 
tanglement of the line. The djsadvantages of 
a long and flexible rod are well known to us. 
We can, indeed, speak very feelingly upon the 
subject, for it was once our misfortune to be the 
proprietor of one. Its original cost was thirty 
shillings, and.right glad were we to exchange 
it with a “brother of the angle” for a ten- 
shilling rod, not above two-thirds its size, 
ee the equal of which for power and general 
xcellence we have never yet met with. Our 
friend, however, was well pleased with the 
exchange—very. 
It is but fair to add that good rods ore 
nothing like so scarce as they formerly were 
The last three or four years have seen some 
great improvements, and from what cause we 
presume not to say, a very general falling in 
with the opinions we have ae and repeatedly 
set forth. 
As from the wrist proceeds the chief action 
in the process of throwing the line, it is ob- 
vious that the choice of the rod should be 
influenced by the strength or weakness of that 
joint. What is a stiff and cumbersome rod to 
one man may exactly suit another of stronger 
muscle; and the same rod tried by a 
person, possessing still greater strength, 
handle light and airy as an enchanter’s wand, 
and, therefore, will be to him, comparatively 
speaking, powerless. A person may determine 
by a very few casts—supposing him to be ex- 
pert in throwing—whether the rod he handles 
be adapted to him or not. Tf it be properly 
under his command, the force communicated 
by his wrist, in wielding it, will be felt at the 
may 

third. 

very point of the line,-and the fly there will 
alight upon the water quiveringly and insect- 
like. If otherwise, the spring required in the 
impulsion of the rod will be so neutralized by 
the overweight of the latter that it will not be 
communicated to the line, which in conse- 
quence will be thrown solely by the movement 
of the rod, without any control of the wrist, 
and will always fall in an ungoverned and slov- 
enly manner. 
Cotton, the friend and disciple of our patri- 
arch Izaak, says: “For the eek of your rod 
you are to be governed by the width of the 
river you choose to angle at, and for a trout 
river one of five or six yards long is common 
enough; and longer it ought not to be, if you 
wish to fish at ease, and if otherwise, where 
lies the sport?” 
As to the color of rods, it is not, perhaps, a 
matter worth disputing, although’we must con- 
fess that we have a decided penchant for black. 
Some may think us fastidious in supposing 
that highly varnished yellow rods are likely 
to scare the fish, particularly in sunshine. One 
thing, however, and it is important, must be 
said in favor of light varnish, namely, that it 
renders visible all knots and other imperfec- 
tions in the wood, to conceal which, it is more 
than possible black varnish is sometimes 
daubed on. But again, the color of yellow 
rods is imparted by means of aqua fortis, 
which probably operates injuriously upon the 
wood. So much pro and con. The advantages 
are decidedly in favor of black rods, and this 
would seem to be a pretty general opinion, for 
a yellow rod is now very seldom seen in the 
hands of any fly-fisher. 
With the tine the same adaptation to the rod 
must be observed, as we have seen to be so 
essential in that of the rod to its wielder. It 
may be taken as a general rule that the stiffer 
the rod, the heavier and stouter should be the 
line, and vice versa. Like the rod, too, the 
line should taper with almost mathematical 
precision—not throughout its whole length, 
but in that part of it which is mostly thrown 
out upon the water, for as the rest will re- 
main wound up in the reel, in reserve for an 
extraordinarily far cast, or for playing a pow- 
erful fish, it may be of one uniform size. If 
therefore, the tapering of a twenty-five yard 
line commences about the middle, it will be 
quite enough. 
The lowermost part of the line, when fitted 
up for actual use by the river’s side—we mean 
the part to which the flies are attached—is 
called in the West of England the collar, and 
in other parts of the country the foot-line 
casting-line, and gut-line. It is composed of a 
series of lengths of silkworm gut, which should 
be of good quality, and not as is often the case, 
of the coarsest and worst. Its length must 
depend upon the power of the rod and the 
degree of tapering of the line with which it is 
to be used; indeed, the wrist of the angler, and 
his rod, line, and collar must always be -re- 
garded as parts of one machine, and be adapt- 
ed to each other with almost mathematical 
exactness. Otherwise pleasant fishing will be 
out of the question. 
Very little practice will prove that correct 
casting depends a great deal upon the proper 
proportion of collar. When the line, instead 
of going out smartly and straight, bags and 
falls loosely upon the water, it is by reason of 
the smaller extremity being too much of one 
uniform size, a defect easily removed by short- 
ening the collar, and if need be, the fine part 
of the line also. There will occur few cases 
in which more than four yards or less than 
two yards of gut will be required; but on this 
point, in common with many others of our 
subject, so much must be left to the exercise 
of the sportsman’s own iudgment, that only a 
broad rule can be laid down. 
Long Silkworm Gut. 
SPECIMENS of Spanish silkworm gut twenty- 
seven inches in length have been exhibited in 
London recently. These were undrawn, of refina 
size, and said to be quite perfect. 
_ attached a rod and a hook and sinker at the othe! 
















THE TOP RAIL 
An old angler happened to be passing alon 
the Hudson River recently when his attentio } 
was attracted by two Italians who were seate} 
on a low pier, fishing. Each one held an ope 
umbrella in one hand and a stick in the othe} 
But the sky was clear and the umbrellas inverte| 
and ng d so th at they rested on the surface ol 
the water. “Uh-huh!” said the angler, “here’} 
a ie new to:me,’ and he watched the me}, 
carefully. Presently one of them raised his stict| 
disclosing a bit of string with a small eel at th/ 
other end. This was raised above the surfac} 
deftly, and dropped into the umbrella, when 
let go, flopped about for a few minutes and la| 
still. Meanwhile the string with its “gob c| 
worms” attached, but no hook, was returned t| 
the water. 
This form of fishing for eels may be commo | 


































































































enough elsewhere but its umbreiia accompani| 
ment is odd enough to attract attention. | 
This reminds me of another eel story, als| 
from the Hudson. A litle girl, with her parent: 
passed the camp of some canoeists, and trippin| 
over a line, picked it up and began to pull 
in without knowing that to the shore end wa 
She had not pulled in much line ere she foun| 
there was life at the end, and unnoticed sh 
struggled valiantly with her feet braced in th| 
sand until an enormous eel appeared atest 
water's edge. Then she began to yell in frighi 
but did not drop the line. The attention of sev 
eral persons who were nearby was attracted, an 
the little tot made quite a picture landing he 
first “fish,’ for the big tide-runner was almos 
as long as she. 

* * x i 
. y 
An English tf 
off trespassers 
guns 
paper says a method of warnin; 
without man-traps and spring}. 
has been devised by a canny peasant in th} 
South of France. His woods were invaded by] 
nut pickers. He asked a botanical friend thi 
Latin name for the hazel nut, and put up th}, 
following notice: ‘“Caution—All persons enter) 
ing this wood do so at their own risk. Th! 
Corylus avellana abounds here, as well as othe|, 
venomous snakes.’ Not a single trespasser hal 
ventured into the wood since. 
ee a t| 
From Colorado comes this yarn: 
At a country fair a man went up to a ter 
where some elk were on exhibition and stare! 
wistfully up at the sign. 
“T’d like to go in there,” he said to the keepet) 
“but it would be mean to go in without m 
family and I cannot afford to pay for my wif! 
and seventeen children.” 
The barker stared at him in astonishmen} 
“Are all those your children?” he gasped. 5 
“Every one,” said the man. 
“You wait a minute,” said the man. “yf 
going to bring the elk out and let them see yor 
all.” 

* oO t 
And here is another one from the same State}, 
“Yes,” said the learned boarder, “the anti 
podes are right beneath our feet.” The farmer’ 
wife reached for a shoe. “Right beneath ou 
feet, Mr. Wartman!” she gasped. ‘Lands sakes 
let me kill them before they get away. We ca: 
stand centipedes and horned toads, but none o 
these here reptiles with new-fangled narnes.” 
GrizzLy Kine. 



C 






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