152 FLY FISHING AND SPINNING 



avoiding the risky and, in my opinion, unnecessary changing 

 of the rod from right to left hand when a fish is hooked, 

 and leaving the left hand free at all times for the landing-net, 

 for manipulating the line and reel, for one's pipe, etc. 



The rod and line being now ready, take your stand in the 

 middle of the lawn. The rod should be in your right hand, 

 pointing forward, the reel being on its lower side, and your 

 hand firmly grasping the butt, with the thumb extending 

 along the upper side. 



POSITION WHEN CASTING 



The position of your body should be as follows (see 

 Plate XVI.). The right foot is advanced and pointing in the 

 direction of your line, the left foot slightly behind and 

 pointing to the left, the weight of the body resting on both 

 feet, the right shoulder forward, and the body erect. 



The upper part of the right arm should point downwards, 

 with the elbow slightly in advance of the body, and the 

 forearm be extended in the same direction as the rod, which 

 latter must be held firmly and pointing nearly horizontally 

 (see Plate XVI.). 



THE BACKWARD CAST 



Now the object you should have in view is to learn how to 

 cast your line (and fly) straight in front of you, and it will 

 be evident that before casting forward, you must get the 

 line more or less extended behind you ; thus the back cast 

 which effects this is the first and probably the most 

 important thing to learn ; therefore I want you to practise 

 this back cast before attempting to make the forward one. 



I will later on describe how this forward extension of the 

 line is generally acquired, but we will assume that you 

 have extended which is a simple matter about twelve 

 yards of your line on the grass in front of you. 



