Past experience and manufacturers' accepted standards may serve as a rule of thumb in the classification of rods. In reality, no strict standards as regards lengths and weights are reasonable, since the rod cannot be con­sidered alone. Any rod will perform according to the limits which the line imposes on it. A class-A rod throughout, regardless of its price tag and trappings, will be a miserable thing with a line too light or too heavy. About the only effective comparison I can think of is putting a twenty-five-horsepower outboard motor on a tiny skiff or a small one-and-one-half horsepower on a thirty-foot cruiser. It just won't work.Rods should not be pushed beyond their reasonable endurance limits. A single day astream may require several thousand complete casting cycles. Casting a line too heavy, or a lure, for that matter, will place the rod under extreme pressures. It cannot last long. Always seek the rodbuilder's recom­mendation as to line size, either level or tapered, or torpedo head. That, at least, is a sound starting point.It is not intended by any means to set down here the proper rod for a particular fish or fishing condition. Keep in mind that actions are not necessarily determined by lengths and weights. One nine-foot rod of five ounces may have a soggy, weak action, another of the same length and an ounce less weight may be on the quick, snappy side. Quality of cane and method of production make the difference.