A fishing rod or a fishing pole is a long, flexible length of fiberglass, carbon fiber, graphite or, classically, bamboo, used to catch fish.
In contrast with subsistence and commercial fishing, which usually involve nets, fishing rods are typically used in the sports of angling and competitive casting.
At its simplest, a fishing rod is a simple stick or pole with a line ending in a hook (formerly known as an angle, hence the term angling). To entice fish bait or lures may be added. To aid in playing a fish more line, stowed on a reel, is common.
Fishing rods vary in flexibility and length, varying between 24 inches and 20 feet. The longer the rod, the greater the mechanical advantage in casting.
Read more about Fishing Rod: History, Modern Design, Rod Making Bench, Specifications
Famous quotes containing the words fishing and/or rod:
“The hill farmer ... always seems to make out somehow with his corn patch, his few vegetables, his rifle, and fishing rod. This self-contained economy creates in the hillman a comparative disinterest in the world’s affairs, along with a disdain of lowland ways. “I don’t go to question the good Lord in his wisdom,” runs the phrasing attributed to a typical mountaineer, “but I jest cain’t see why He put valleys in between the hills.””
—Administration in the State of Arka, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“The tracks of moose, more or less recent, to speak literally, covered every square rod on the sides of the mountain; and these animals are probably more numerous there now than ever before, being driven into this wilderness, from all sides, by the settlements.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)