. . .It would seem that the tentative dry fly caster cannot too carefully consider the details of the rod which he will use in the pursuit of the sport. The majority of anglers cannot well afford a battery of fly-rods; moreover, there is no market for used fishing rods, as in the case of firearms, so that if the rod proves unsatisfactory it cannot be got rid of unless one practically gives it away. It is claimed that, in time, an angler will "grow to" any sort of rod, regardless of its unfitness to him personally or of inherent faultiness in some respect; possibly this is true. Patience is, indeed, a virtue possessed by many good fishermen, but, in this instance, it is safe to say that not one fly-caster in twenty can bring himself to the continued use of a rod from which he derives no pleasure and which actually handicaps him on the stream.

The demands of dry fly casting on the rod are exacting in the extreme. On a river where there is much dry fly water probab. . . Read More