MAKING THE WYE CAST 239 



This, however, means a fairly long throw, of 33 yards 

 at least, and although you can shoot the line, it is 

 still evident that the wall behind will preclude your 

 extending the line in that direction for the remaining 

 30 yards. 



We cannot use the Spey throw from our only stand- 

 ing-place, for you will see how those low-lying rocks 

 run out into the stream below us, and our fly, in the 

 up-stream drag of the Spey cast, would most assuredly 

 come to grief among them. 



The axiom that " the line must follow every motion 

 of the point of the rod," suggests a way out of the 

 difficulty. We must make a curved cast which is a 

 variation of a cast used on the Welsh Wye, and one 

 which is most useful when fishing from a coracle. 



The line, at the moment in which you make the final 

 forward cast, cannot be extended backward, or it 

 would hit the rocks behind, and therefore it must be 

 cuived at the psychological moment, and every por- 

 tion of the line in this curve behind you must be 

 under the influence of a continuously applied circular 

 sweep. 



The wind is up-stream from the left side, and this 

 will help you in making the cast to the right. You 

 first get out about 20 yards of the line by the vertical 

 overhead cast across the stream, and then proceed as 

 you lift your line to curve it up-stream and backward 

 by a strong circular underhand sweep of the rod to 

 the right (see Diagram 20), bringing the rod behind you 

 in a continuous swing, but gradually raising the point 



