94 LETTERS TO YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 



had not the knowledge or the wit to appreciate was the place 

 on the water of that deuce of a splash. Part of the line, as I 

 say, went in with a splash. But if the ingenuous youth 

 had applied his attention a little more acutely to what he 

 saw, he would have perceived that the part of the line which 

 created this splashing was not very far from the rod itself. 

 He would have seen that the splash mark on the water did 

 not extend for very many yards ; he would have noted that 

 the further end of the reel line went out beyond all that 

 section which had made the splash and alighted on the water 

 with very little indent in its placid surface ; finally, that the 

 gut cast, going out furthest of all, pitched slowly and lightly 

 like that piece of thistle-down which we all have heard about 

 so often, and that at the end of all the tiny fly came to settle 

 on the stream's face with all the delicacy of its live original. 

 I am writing, you will observe, of the fine casting of the dry 

 fly, which is the last word in angling subtlety. 



That is the last word ; and you are but now arrived 

 at the very first word. Therefore, I do not propose, for the 

 moment, to take you to a chalk stream where the sophisti- 

 cated trout disdain (so the purists will assure us) to look 

 at any fly other than one cocked and dancing on the surface. 

 Let us go first to some more rapid water where the wavelets 

 and the ripple may help to disguise from the eye of the fish 

 anything at all unnatural in the imitation of the live insect 

 which you are proposing to show him. You are really quite 

 adequately equipped now for catching a trout in a stream 

 of this bustling character. Without committing ourselves 

 to any dogmatic opinion on the vexed question of the up or 

 down stream method — a question almost as heart-searching 

 in the kingdom of fishers as that of the Big and Little Endians 

 in the Realm of Laputa — we may confidently say that the 

 down-stream way is the better one for the caster of little skill. 

 The kindly action of the current will then aid in straightening 

 for him such portion of his cast as he may have laid crookedly. 

 Casting up-stream he will receive no such help. The twelve 

 yards of reel line which I am imagining you able to throw out 

 with tolerable deftness, plus the added length of the cast, 

 should be quite enough to enable you to reach many a good 

 fish. Moreover, the promptings of your proper and natural 



