ON ANGLING 171 



everyone to be an Enright, and though one ad- 

 mires such displays of strength and skill in cast- 

 ing, it is really not necessary to success in an- 

 gling. As a matter of fact, very few salmon are 

 hooked on these very long casts. I never was 

 proficient myself in that respect, a little over 

 eighty feet being my limit, but I may say that 

 three-quarters of all the salmon I ever caught 

 were on short casts, under forty feet. With 

 short casts every movement imparted to the rod 

 reaches the fly, and its movements are those of 

 a living insect, or as near to them as possible. With 

 long ones the finer motions of the rod seldom or 

 ever reach the fly, owing to slack line and the 

 friction of the water upon it, and one watching 

 such a fly will see it sweep around like a dead 

 object. The proper way to cast for salmon is 

 down stream, at an angle of say 45 Q , but I have 

 found that after so fishing a good many additional 

 fish might be hooked, or would rise to the fly 

 when fishing right across the current, and even 

 up stream, so long as the movements of the fly 

 could be controlled. Such casts must necessarily 

 be short ones. Most fish take the fly under water, 

 but many will take it on the surface like trout, 

 and it is a good plan to try both methods. Fish 

 that lie in shallow waters will frequently snap 

 viciously at a fly that is just dangled over their 

 nose, and occasionally allowed to touch the water. 

 In this way I have often seen fish caught when 

 the fly was four or five inches above the water. 



