358 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK. 



making his first cast with ; this is done as in Trout-fishing. 

 To describe it, we will suppose that the angler approaches the 

 stream, the hook clasping one of the bars of the reel (the 

 usual way of carrying it), his line consequently (or as much 

 as has passed through the rings) the same length as his rod, 

 or nearly so. He disengages his fly, throws it on the water, 

 and draws a few feet of line off the reel ; the line falling in a 

 loop between the reel and the ring next above it. Now by 

 switching his rod to the right or left — his fly dragging the 

 mean time in the water — the slack line which hangs in a loop 

 is pulled through the rings, and out at the end of the tip , 

 lengthening the line, by so much. This is repeated until he 

 has drawn the point of the rod around so far to one side that 

 he is obliged to lift the line from the water and throw it 

 further out, in order to continue the operation. Thus by 

 pulling the line from the reel, and consecutively switching 

 the rod, the required length is obtained. Of course this pre- 

 liminary operation is not done in the direction in which the 

 fish are supposed to lie. 



Now, with a smart spring of the rod, the angler lifts his 

 fly from the water to make the first cast, and directs its course 

 backwards over his right shoulder until he thinks it has 

 nearly reached the distance the line will allow it to go behind 

 him; then with a steady forward motion, succeeded by a switch 

 of the rod, he sends it on its errand across the smoothly- 

 gliding water, that it may float or swing over the current and 

 entice the silver-sided Salmon with its sheen and life-like 

 look. 



In this plain, straightforward throw, the top of the rod 

 describes nearly an arc in its backward course, and the 

 chord of the same arc in its forward course ; in other words, 

 the backward course is a curve, and the forward a straight 

 line. The left figure of the cut on page 362, gives a bird's-eye 



