CASTING WITH A TROUT-ROD 201 



a rod having been constructed specially to do 

 the work, it should be allowed to do it that is 

 to say, the fisherman should, without putting 

 undue strain on his rod, extract from it all that is 

 necessary, and with as little muscular exertion 

 from himself as is possible. Brute force is alto- 

 gether out of place at the end of a trout-rod. 

 Brute force never made a coachman, nor will it 

 make a fisherman, and the man who can handle 

 and make his whip neatly should not fail with a 

 fly-rod, and I may reverse the argument. 



Now, there are four different ways of casting 

 with a trout-rod, viz. . 



1. Overhead, the rod being used nearly verti- 

 cally. 



2. Waving the rod horizontally on the right 

 side, the knuckles of the right hand being held 

 downwards. 



3. Waving the rod horizontally on the left 

 side, back-handed, as it were, the knuckles of the 

 hand being held upwards. 



4. Switching. 



In all these four different styles of casting, the 

 point of the rod is never to be brought directly 

 backwards and forwards in exactly the same 

 plane, but it must be made to describe a slightly 

 circular movement, for if this is not carried out, 

 the fly will be cracked off to a certainty. The 

 return cast from behind must also be timed so as 



