The selection of the rod for dry fly work, then, should be made with deliberation and based upon the best information obtainable. In this connection it may be noted that it is the fashion with a certain class of sportsmen to consider the purchase of a fly-rod which, relatively, may be termed an expensive one, simply a foolish waste of money and entirely a matter of "pretense and affectation." Usually this opinion is wholly the result of misinformation and lack of experience. No angler who ever had the pleasure of a day's fishing with a first-class fly-rod--provided, initially, he possessed sufficient skill and experience to thoroughly appreciate the revelation, for the action of such a rod is, indeed, a revelation to one accustomed to the use of an inferior article--ever willingly returned to the use of the makeshift rod with which perhaps he had theretofore been contented.
The purchaser of a shotgun is usually aware of the fact that beyond a certain limit, varying with guns by different makers, he is paying for finish pure and simple--not for practical shooting efficiency in the weapon. But in the case of the fly-rod this is not true--with due deference to the opinion of the man who holds otherwise, simply, I am sure, because he has yet to cast a fly with a genuine fly-rod. All this, of course, within reason; it should be manifest that a merely "highly ornate" rod spells increased cost without return in practical casting and fishing value. However, the gingerbread fly-rod is so rare that it may safely be disregarded as a factor in the present discussion--also, parenthetically, as a factor in the day's score on the trout stream.
Reducing the matter to the practical dollars-and-cents basis, it may be said in all truthfulness that up to thirty dollars, taking an average of fly-rods by different makers, every additional dollar spent on the rod inevitably means a commensurate increase in the rod's efficiency, serviceability, and all-round desirability. But while no experienced fly-caster would, I believe, take exception to the above, it still remains to be said that if economy is, indeed, an object--and that it is may usually be taken for granted--a very good rod, quite satisfactory in action, hang, and general construction, may be obtained for half the above amount plus some little discretion in its purchase. Wherefore, for the benefit of the sportsman who is willing to grant that only the best of tools are suited to the purpose of the fly-caster, and particularly to the work of the dry fly man, but who, nevertheless, wishes to obtain his outfit with the least expenditure commensurate with real efficiency in the equipment, it would seem desirable to describe briefly the characteristics of a first-class fly-rod.