176 CASTING TACKLE AND METHODS 



and perhaps profanity, by wearing woolen under- 

 clothes and going in all over when first he sets out. 

 But this is not primarily a chapter upon tackle and 

 outfit, rather it is a discussion of how to use that 

 with which the reader is already familiar in a little 

 known sport. 



While in fly fishing it is always the part of wisdom 

 to fish against the current wherever possible, in cast- 

 ing artificial lures from the middle of a river the 

 practice is frought with extreme danger. ' Casting 

 up-stream, a back-lash appears, without rhyme or 

 reason, and what is the result? The angler waits to 

 untangle the knotted line before he attempts to reel 

 in; instantly that floating lure is between his legs or 

 creeping off under the down-reaching roots of some 

 multi-footed pine stump. There is a special legion 

 of devils waiting to possess the harmless floating lure 

 once the angler exposes it upon the surface of a river 

 with even a moderate current. Perhaps the reader 

 thinks he is acquainted with all the perversities of a 

 lure, but let me tell you that unless you have experi- 

 mented with mid-stream casting in knee-and-a-half- 

 deep water, you have never even imagined what a 

 lure can do. The chances are, if it creeps off into 

 some eddy and tangles up in surface-sweeping 

 branches or fastens upon some variety of immovable 

 snag, the caster will discover that the water beneath 

 is over his head. Better follow the foam. Unques- 

 tionably the hooking efficiency of any given lure is 



