202 ROD AND RIVER 



to be made, not, as is so often recommended, 

 when the line is fully extended behind, but just 

 before it reaches its fullest extension. This the 

 fisherman must learn by practice to know for 

 himself; theory is useless, and nothing but prac- 

 tice will teach him. He must learn to feel, as it 

 were, with his rod. As every horse has a dif- 

 ferent mouth, so every rod has its own peculiar 

 swing, and the fisherman must learn to act in 

 perfect sympathy with this swing. The motive 

 power and the direction must be furnished by the 

 muscles of his arm, of which the rod is, after all, 

 but an artificial continuation ; and if the requisite 

 amount of force and the proper direction are 

 imparted to the rod, the latter will most surely, 

 if it is a fairly good one, do its share of the 

 work. 



Nearly all casting should be performed by the 

 forearm and wrist alone ; I may say all, save 

 where it is necessary to lengthen the rod by 

 bringing the entire arm into play. One fre- 

 quently sees men who are bunglers at the art 

 not only swinging their arm frantically to and 

 fro, but their entire bodies. This style of thing 

 is neither necessary nor conducive to neat casting, 

 and is, moreover, clumsy and grotesque. The 

 man who can use his rod gracefully will generally 

 prove to be able to use it to good purpose, 

 whether it be a salmon or a trout rod, the 



