THE OVERHEAD CAST. 33 



when tlie rod is at an angle of about 45 deg., by a wrist 

 movement bring it sharply back on your right side. Check 

 your hand an instant as the rod points nearly straight up 

 above your head— the line will then fly out behind you. Then, 

 again using the wrist, bring the rod rapidly forward from the 

 upright to the angle of 45 deg. — avoiding anything in the 

 nature of a jerk — and check it. The line will fly out in front of 

 you, and, if not a long one, the end of it will come to the water 

 before any other part. In these quick movements of the wrist 

 the chief difl&culty of fly-fishing lies, and it is not until we 

 have used a fly rod for some time that the muscles of the 

 wrist become properly developed, and we acquire the knack 

 of casting a fly well. 



Give full time for the line to get out behind before making 

 the forward cast. Mr. Halford tells me that, having, for 

 the purposes of his book, had some instantaneous photographs 

 taken of a fly-fisher in the act of casting, he has discovered 

 that the line is not extended straight behind the angler 

 until he commences to make the forward cast. This may 

 be so as a rule, but I fancy with a heavy fly, such as is 

 used for salmon, the line must sometimes be fully extended 

 by the mere force of the backward cast. However that may 

 be, it is necessary when making the cast I have described 

 — known as the overhead cast — to pause a second or two 

 between the backward and forward casts. Otherwise, the 

 line will smack like a whip, and the fly very likely crack off. 

 The longer the line, the longer, of course, must be the pause. 



In the overhead cast, the rod points only a trifle to the right 

 when the back cast is being made, and is almost upright when 

 the forward cast is in progress. When that cast can be 

 performed fairly well, the angler should practise sending his 

 line as high in the air as possible when making the backward 

 cast, the forward cast being made as before. This is known 

 in Hampshire as the steeple cast, and by its means a very long 

 line can be got out, and the line is not so likely to catch in 

 bushes, reeds, &c., behind the angler. 



The underhand or horizontal cast is the next to be practised. 

 It is particularly useful when fishing with the dry fly. It is 



