CASTING 



ninety-five feet. Only a few very skilful men can 

 do better than this, probably not more than a 

 dozen all told, using the regular fishing rig. No 

 one should be satisfied with less than seventy feet 

 with a single-handed rod, nor less than eighty to 

 ninety feet with a two-handed rod with which 

 the expert can cast 100 to 120 feet. It is very 

 hard for the trout fisherman who is used to small 

 water and short casts to realize the importance of 

 not allowing the fly to touch the beach on the 

 back cast. Such a blow generally breaks the hook 

 where the steel is cut in for the barb. The fisher- 

 man goes on using the broken fly until he raises a 

 fish which he invariably loses. This summer I 

 gave six small flies to a fisherman I met on the 

 river, as he had none, and the salmon would only 

 rise on the small sizes. Next evening I met him 

 again and he complained that my flies were no 

 good as he had lost four salmon and all of them 

 had broken the hooks in their mouths. He did 

 not cast properly and was hitting the flies on the 

 rocks behind him, breaking the flies and so had 

 been hooking the salmon on the broken hooks. 

 When I showed him what was happening he was 

 quite satisfied with my flies. 

 The switch cast is most useful in salmon fishing 

 [ 135 ] 



