|
Select your salt-water rod, too, primarily for the job to be done. Choose your rod to handle the line and lure and not some chance-passing big-shot whale. All too frequently the angler feels that the great ocean demands much heavier tackle, but even here, extremely heavy tackle is definitely not necessary. However, quite often in casting for stripers, blues or bonefish, long cast are in order, and weighted flies particularly are not the easiest lures to fling out a long distance with a light rod. Some of my experienced salt-water friends prefer 10-foot, double-handed, 8-ounce rods. I get more concentrated pleasure from a one-handed 9-foot, 5 -ounce stick, which meets most of my salt-water obligations, providing it is made of hollow glass. And, when I'm deliberately fishing for smaller fry, fish such as snappers, blues, or mackerel, I'll string along with my medium-weight trout spinning rod of 7 feet and 4 ounces. Should the angler like a spinning rod for back-packing or carrying past the boss in an innocent-appearing suitcase, then by all means get a three-section rod. In the bamboo, Gene Edward's three-piece rod cannot be surpassed. In glass, you may want to get the Sila-flex or Researchers Universal blanks from the R.L. Winston Rod Co., 684 Harrison Street, San Francisco, Calif., and make it up yourself after you have read Chapter V. I have yet to find a good spinning and dry-fly rod combination which will surpass my own homemade job.
|
