140 SPINNING FROM THE HAND 



Now, as to the actual working method of catching 

 fish with this tackle, I cannot do better than give the 

 method used by a cousin of mine, Reginald Downes 

 Hughes, in his own language, as follows : 



' The minnow must be held at the end of sufficient 

 line to reach to the reel. Draw off with the left hand, 

 say, a couple of yards. Swing the rod steadily and 

 absolutely without any jerky motion in the required 

 direction, letting the slack in the left hand run through 

 the rings. Cast up-stream, and immediately the bait 

 reaches the water, which it should do without splash, 

 start drawing in the line again with the left hand down 

 or across stream, but slowly enough to let it sink as 

 deeply as possible, while avoiding weeds, snags, etc. 

 In this way search every inch of the water as carefully 

 as you would with a fly, remembering that, as a rule, the 

 larger the fish the more disinclined he is to be tempted. 

 Having once become capable of casting delicately with 

 this short length of line, which, however, is generally 

 sufficient where wading and fishing up-stream, you can, 

 in order to command a larger area of water, gradually 

 learn to draw off more slack line, either letting it fall 

 on the ground where clear of weeds, etc., or, better 

 still, held in three or four coils over the different fingers 

 of the left hand. 



" Casting in the Nottingham style necessitates the 

 same steady swing of the rod, but the minnow is cast 

 from the reel. Swing the rod well back, holding the 

 reel with the first or second finger of the left hand, and 

 on commencing the forward cast release the reel. As 



