THE SPEY OR SWITCH CAST. 



35 



until we make the backward cast with, the rod held parallel 

 with the earth and the forward cast over our head. In 

 that case, the rod follows a still bolder curve than that 

 shown in Fig. 26. The larger the curve the rod-point 

 makes in the air, the less the line goes behind the angler, and 

 the less occasion is there for any considerable pause between 

 the backward and forward casts. As a matter of fact, if the 

 rod-point follows the curve shown in Fig. 26, the line hardly 

 extends behind the angler at all. It will be seen that we have 

 gradually worked away from the overhead cast, until we have 

 arrived, in Fig. 26, at a cast of quite another character. This 

 partly horizontal and partly overhead cast is very commonly 

 used in Ireland. 



There is still the switch or Spey cast, which I must mention, 

 because it is particularly 

 useful where, owing to 

 trees or a high bank, the 

 line cannot be extended 

 at all behind the angler. 

 It was taught me by 

 Mr. David Wilson, the 

 Honorary Secretary of 

 the Fly -fishers' Club, 

 who has fished the Spey 

 from boyhood, and casts 



a wonderful line after that fashion. It is not a difficult 

 cast to understand, and I would beg of my young readers 

 to master it, for it is at times most useful. It is necessary, 

 in the first place, to fish down stream. We are looking 

 down the river, let us say, with a high rock behind us. 

 Our rod-point is rather low, pointing towards the fly, and 

 our line is, of course, extended down stream. Suppose, 

 now, our rod-point is at A (see Fig. 27); we raise it smartly, 

 following the curve shown, to B, when our line will be off the 

 water; then we depress it again to 0, and raise it to D, by 

 which time the fly and a portion of the line will be touching 

 the water almost at our feet ; then we switch the rod forward 

 sharply from D to B, and the line follows round in a curve, 



DIV. III. E 



Curve followed by Rod-point 

 IN Spey or Switch Cast. 



