THROWING THE LINE AND FLIES. 11 



CHAPTEE II. 



THROWING THE LINE AND FLIES HUMOURING THEM 

 FISHING A STREAM STRIKING, HOOKING, PLAYING, AND 

 LANDING A FISH. 



OUR LANGUAGE contains many pretty, pithy, and 

 largely expressive figures of speech. One man 

 says of another, s he is the best " whip " in Eng- 

 land.' We understand by this little phrase that 

 he is vaunted to be the best driver and manager 

 of horses in harness in the kingdom. So when 

 we say e he throws a line or a fly better than any 

 man we know,' we mean to assert that he is the 

 best fly-fisher of our acquaintance. The posses- 

 sion of the one power commonly, not always, 

 implies the possession of all the other necessary 

 ones. Throwing well the line is an indispensable 

 fly-fishing qualification, the first to be learned, 

 always called into play, and without which other 

 attributes are nearly valueless. You may hook 

 a fish well, play a fish well, land a fish well, but 

 you will not often have an opportunity of doing 

 so unless you throw a line well. We judge of a 

 fly-fisher by the manner in which he casts his 

 line. If he does so with ease and elegance, and 



