30 Wet- Fly Fishing 



bushes nor trees line the banks, and where 

 the angler has therefore got a clear cast. 

 Here it is all plain sailing to the man who 

 knows what he is about, and who, of course, 

 fishes up-stream instead of down, with the 

 artificial fly. 



As the main object of any book such as 

 this is to teach others who are as yet learners, 

 I fear that I must become egotistical and 

 adopt the personal pronoun I for simplicity. 

 There are a few general precepts which I 

 desire to impress upon beginners, and the 

 first is this : 



(1) Begin with a rod which does not 

 unduly tire your wrist. In due course 

 you can increase the length of your rod, 

 and its weight. If you start with a heavy 

 rod, you run the risk of getting into 

 a slovenly manner of throwing the line. 

 You can never hope to strike delicately or 

 quickly, if your hand is over- weighted. 

 Now, as one man has the wrist and fore- 

 arm of an athlete, and another is deficient 

 in physical fitness, it is impossible to lay 

 down any hard and fast rules regarding the 

 proper length and weight of a rod for the 

 beginner. Besides which, this will be dealt 

 with in a subsequent chapter on rods, etc. 



The next precept is this : Use a short 



