The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1888-10-11
FISHING TACKLE.
How and Where Rods, Hooks, Lines,
Reels, and Floats are Manufactured.

Reels, and Floats are Manufactured.
These are the palmy DAYS for anglers
and for the men who sell tackle to the
hunters of fish, says the Philadelphia
Times. American angling improves
every year and the yearly sale of fish
ing tackle grows bigger, until to-day
thousands of hands are employed and
a great amount of capital used in the
manufacture of the equipments of the
piscatOrial sportsman.
The grade of American fishing tac klc
advances steadily, and so does the cost
in many cases, but there waS little
comment when Il well-known poll
tician. who used to angle for minnows
in his childhood with bent pin, sugar
cord, and the branch of il tree, paid
$3.50 for a iiShing-rod the other day
that firm on Sixth and Market streets
had made for him. 1t was one of the
best split bamboo poles that was ever
made in this city.
Few people know the time and trou-
BILE it takes to make good bamboo
fishing-rOd. The bamboo is imported
in big cargoes from Calcutta. India.
The wood has to be well-seaSoned, and
for two weeks the bamboo is dried by
steam. The rod is then split into six
lengths and cut into three sections. and
again dried for two weeks. The Spliccd
pieces are glued together, and it stays
in the glue for 4 month and is then
wrapped with silk.
1t is afterward iointed with fcrruies
Then it goes through the vanishing
process and receives four coats. each
coat uf varniSh being given week 10
dry. The pole is afterward given Il
butt or handle of ash. cellulOid, or
pearl, and at the end of about three
months and when the pole has gone
through the hands OF six workmen it
is finished. The rod must be plant as
a coach whip, bending from butt to
tip. Many poles are ruined in the pro-
cess of manufacture. The price of
split bamboo poles run from Sc to $50,
but poles have been known to cost al
most 5000 where the ferrules and
mountings were silver.
The next best rod to the bamboo is
made of lancewood. This wood, which
is very heavy, is brought from South
America in Spars. The rOd-naker has
the spar sawed up. LancewoOd must
have good seasoning, and frequently
"
has been trimmed and turned by ma
chinery it is sand-papered and cut into
three or four sections and jointed; then
it is ferruled, wrapped with silk OF
linen thread, and varGished three
times. The lancewood rods cost from
81 to $40. The cheap rods are made
of ash and other common woods, with
three joints, brass ferrules, and can be
l. L., 4
Almost all the hooks used in this
country come from England, although
a factory at New Haven, Conn, is
turning out a big amount of hooks
But they cannot compare with the Eng.
| lish hook. That the English iiSh-hooI
is the best is due to the finely tempered
steel from which it is made. The Eng
lish hook won't snap off like the Amer
lean hook. There is no steel equal tC
1t made in this country and it costs toe
much to import the English steel and
make the hooks here for the American
market.
All the English hooks are made il
Redditch, dirty-looking little town in
Worcestershire, just over the county
border from Birmingham. There is nt
| hotel in the town. which is almost hid
den in day by the smoke from the sew
en- tish-hOok factories of the place
Over nine hundred people of littl,
Reddirch are every day kept busy max
ing tish-hooks and needles. The inel,
tempered steel is run out into lons
wire. Different machinery cuts ant
turns the wire irto lish-hOoks of nj
sizes and one thousand hooks ar,
turned out every working hour.
Limerick hooks used to be popular
with fishermen, but the old town ol
Ireland's west coast is now making bu
few iish-hooks for the world. Tn
price of some iish-hOoks is but % cent
per thousand. while SO has been pai,
for thousand superb English hooks.
The manufacture of fishing lines
no small industry in this country. Th
best line is made of silk, oil and wraI
ped linen line come next, and thel
are hundred different grades of bot
the silk and linen lines. Many of tn
reels are costly, but Il reel can |
bought for any price between % cen
and so.
All the silk-worm gut used HI NAL
ing leaders is imported from Swedel
and the cork floats are sent here fro
England. The wooden floats are mao
in this country and cost about half q
much as cork floats. The United State
manufactures all it's own fishing file
which are made from feathers, sill
and wool. and are shaped and hued
represent all kinds of flying insect
and there are dozen other things ust
by anglers. that keep many hands bus
making.
More fishing tackle is sold in ii
United States than in any other cou
try, and Philadelphia ranks with Ne
York in the making of the nations ii:
rods, fish lines. and fish flies.