SALMON-FISHING. 359 



view of the line the point of the rod describes ; the dotted 

 line is the course the flj takes, O the place where the angler 

 stands, and the large arrow the course of the river. 



It is hard to fix the exact time that the particular spring 

 which sends the fly far and straight, is imparted to the rod ; 

 it is somewhere about the time it is vertical, or perhaps just 

 before that time, in its forward movement. A person, though, 

 as he acquires the knack of casting, will find it out, though 

 he may not be able to describe it. 



As in Trout-fishing, the learner is apt to labor hard in 

 casting, using much more force than is required, until he gets 

 the habit of making the rod perform neatly, what he, by mere 

 physical effort, would do clumsily. Another thing that he 

 has learned in Trout-fishing will also be of service to him ; 

 it is that lowering of the point of the rod the least hit, by the 

 mere downward bending of the wrist of his right hand, as 

 the fly reaches its destination, causing it to fall lightly on the 

 water, instead of striking it with a splash. There is a way 

 of sending the fly straight out, as if aiming at something 

 above the surface, say on a level with one's shoulder, and 

 easing it off in the manner just described, which is the per- 

 fection of casting. It requires much practice to acquire it. 



The manner of getting more line out as one successively 

 increases the length of his cast, is by drawing a few feet from 

 the reel before raising his fly from the water, and as the rod 

 is drawn backward, the slack goes out through the wire loop 

 at the end of the tip. 



The fly is generally cast directly or obliquely across the 

 stream, the current, or a proper inclination of the rod, or the 

 two combined, bringing it over the place where the fish lie. 

 After the fly has fallen on the water, it is acted upon by two 

 opposing forces — the tendency of the current to take it down 

 stream, and the raising of the point of the rod to restrain or 



