HOW TO CAST A FLY 



"And here, where the eddies, so pearly white, 

 Sink away into gloom or wheel into light, 

 Where the trunk of decaying pine-tree doth throw 

 Its leaning bridge over the current's flow, 

 The patient angler, with rod and line, 

 May cast his flies and his tackle so fine, 

 And soon his basket a treasure will hold 

 Of azure fishes o'rspangled with gold," 



TN order to cast a fly one must have 

 * a fairly limber rod, and a line of 

 the kind that is known as "enam- 

 elled" ; this means a silk line that has 

 been covered with a dressing of water- 

 proof material which gives it a very 

 smooth finish, and adds weight to it. 

 It is the weight of the line that makes 

 it possible to cast a fly, just as it is the 

 weight of a long whip lash that makes 

 it possible to throw the lash out full 

 length. 



Pull out about twenty feet of line, 

 and lay it on the ground in front of 

 you ; then pick up the rod, holding it 

 in the right hand with the thumb ex- 

 tended along the top of the handle. 

 On a fly rod the reel should be placed 

 below the hand grasp, and when held 

 in position for casting the reel should 



