210 CORRECT CASTING 



your fish, and put the exact weight, time of day, 

 name of lure, the appearance of the fish, and the name 

 of the pool down in your pocket-book. You will 

 remember the rest if necessary when you get home. 



NECESSITY OF LEARNING HOW TO CAST 



The difficulties which are met with on an ordinary 

 river can best be overcome when your methods of 

 casting are perfect. It is therefore of the greatest 

 importance not only to know how to cast, but how 

 to cast in every style. Bearing this in mind, the 

 reader may, I hope, be induced to devote a little time 

 to the following attempts to describe the various 

 casts as used by myself. There can be no question 

 as to the difficulty of attempting to write on such a 

 subject, but it must be done, and if a little patient 

 attention can be devoted to the matter it will, I hope, 

 repay the effort. 



When actually fishing the adaptation of any per- 

 fectly learnt method in order to overcome a difficulty 

 is a far more simple matter than trying to create an 

 entirely new method in order to surmount any such 

 difficulty. The object of all casting is to get your fly 

 to alight in some desired and definite place. To be able 

 to do this to the best advantage the line must first be 

 more or less extended, as far as the tip of the rod is 

 concerned, in the opposite quarter. The smallest curve 

 of the line behind a vertical rod will, however, suffice 

 for a forward cast (see Plates XXV. and XXVI.). 



