12 THROWING THE LINE AND FLIES. 



efficiently, we set him down as an adept in all the 

 minutiao of the art ; if he does not, we conclude 

 that he is a tyro. We confess our conclusions 

 may be frequently wrong. That, reader, you may 

 not long remain in the category of novices, let 

 there be, during the fly-fishing season, for you, 

 nulla dies sine lined. 



I can see no wonderful difficulty in throwing a 

 line well. Many certainly do not cast well, by 

 reason, chiefly, of having adopted a bad method 

 at the outset. It is better to have no fly-fishing 

 habitude at all, than to have a bad one. Com- 

 mence on the proper principle ; persevere, and 

 you must become a proficient. 



HOW TO THROW THE LlNE AND FLIES. You 



are a beginner, I presume, and have never handled 

 a rod before. Let the rod for your novitiate be 

 ten or eleven feet long ; its play inclining rather 

 to faulty stiffness than to over-pliancy. Put the 

 joints or pieces together, the rings standing in a 

 straight line the one to the other, that your line 

 may run evenly between them without any tortu- 

 ous impediment. Affix your winch or reel with 

 its handle towards the left side, and draw out 

 your line through the rings, until there be about 

 four yards of it uncoiled beyond the last ring 

 of the top joint. You have now quite suffi- 

 cient line out to commence the practice of cast- 

 ing with it. Let your winch and the rings of 



