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For a commercially built bamboo rod, I think my Phillipson is perhaps the best buy for the money. You can't go wrong with a South Bend in the medium-priced field. For the more expensive rods, you'll get full value in every Edwards, Leonard, Thomas or Payne. The same goes for Orvis, which features a plastic impregnation which renders it waterproof and eliminates varnish. Uslan's five-sided rods have much to commend them. For a general all-purpose beginner's rod to go with the Mitchell reel for both fresh and salt water, I would select a good glass rod of 7 feet and 4 ounces. Good glass rods are made by Conolon Shakespeare, Harnell, Researchers Universal, Heddon and South bend, and will give satisfaction. For an ultra-light rod to go with my Alcedo micron reel, I've got a 2 ounce Researchers Universal hollow glass rod, 7 feet long, which not only has the power but also a tip stiff enough for dry-fly casting, something I'm not happy without because I am addicted to dry-fly fishing when the fish are surface feeding. For a slightly heavier outfit than my medium job, I'd get a 7 - to 8 -foot glass rod of 4 to 5 ounces; and for steelhead, if it required long casting in swift water during heavy weather, I'd get a 9-foot rod right around 5 ounces. THE SPINNING LINE Spinning never could have made its rapid advance in this country without benefit of today's excellent spinning lines which grew out of du Pont's nylon, an answer to the spinman's prayer.
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