THE AMERICAN TROUT. 19 
cles, figure eights, and all otlier figures, behind him, 
according to the wind ; bearing in mind, however, ever 
to make his fly drop as gently as a feather. He should 
use his wrist mainly, and practise with each hand, and 
should never be otherwise than ashamed of a bungling 
cast, though he be alone, and none but the fish there to 
despise him. If the line falls the first time with a heart- 
rending splash all in a tangle, it is useless to make the 
next cast properly. The fish have found out the trick, and 
know too much to risk their necks in any such a noose. 
A skillful fisherman can cast almost any length of line, 
but practically, fifty feet, counting from the reel, is all 
that can be used to advantage. Some English books say 
only the leader (gut links) should alight in the water ; but 
this is nonsense, for at least one half the line must fall 
into the water, unless the fisherman stand on a high 
bank. "With a long line the difficulties of striking and 
landing the fish are greatly increased ; in striking, there 
is much slack line to be taken up ; in landing, it requires 
some time to get the fish under control, and he is apt to 
reach the weeds or a stump. 
That most excellent fisherman and learned scholar, Dr. 
Bethune, in his edition of Walton, Part II., page 73, 
says that candid anglers must confess that nine out of ten 
trout hook themselves ; this may be so in streams teeming 
with fish, where a dozen start at once, frantically striving 
to be the first ; but in clear, well-fished streams, not one 
fish in a thousand will, hook himself; and on Long Island 
an angler would grow grey ere he filled his basket if he 
did not strike, and that quickly. Striking, to my mind, 
is by far the most important point, and hundreds of fish 
