A FIRST LESSON IN CASTING 147 



as much pleasure in casting where no fish are, as he 

 will from dropping his lures in water alive with 

 bronze-backs. 



The initial step is, of course, to set up the rod. 

 See to it, if the rod is a jointed caster, that the fer- 

 rules are pushed home, having first anointed the 

 male ferrule with a drop of lubricant. (Rubbing 

 the male ferrule in the hair will provide sufficient 

 oil, if you have any hair on top of your head, which 

 the writer possesses not.) To "throw the rod 

 apart" is not an unusual happening, but none the less 

 vexatious for all that. Next place the reel on top 

 the rod, with handle extending to the right. With 

 click on, to prevent over-run, draw out enough line to 

 thread through the guides and return from the tip- 

 top to reel. Set the rod up between your knees; do 

 not lay it down unless sure the boatman the 

 boatman, of course, even if casting on the lawn 

 can not place his foot upon it. Now reel up the lure, 

 or weight, to within six inches of the tip-top. Slide 

 back the click; never attempt to cast with the click 

 on ; to do so is to spoil the cast and soon ruin the best 

 of reels. It seems almost superfluous to mention the 

 matter, yet I have seen men actually trying to cast 

 with the click shrieking staccato oaths. I never use 

 the click even when playing a fish, for I had rather 

 wear out my thumb than the bearings of a $25.00 

 reel. But the tyro is ready to cast, lure within six 

 inches of tip-top. 



