158 FLY FISHING AND SPINNING 



If the line is fully extended, every particle of impulse 

 will be applied to it in the right direction, and consequently 

 a better result should theoretically occur, and a greater 

 accuracy be acquired, in that the pull will not be applied 

 to a curve. 



The forward cast, then, should be made at the expiration 

 of the pause before mentioned ; the force applied should 

 gradually increase in strength until the rod is stopped 

 at an angle of about twenty-two degrees above the 

 horizontal level (see Diagram 12). This angle may be 

 considered to be the normal one at which the downward 

 effort of the overhead cast ceases, but it alters when making 

 the " wind " and other variations of the overhead cast. 



In order to get this forward cast correctly, it may be 

 advisable to imagine that you are now switching forward 

 a small portion of clay from the tip of your rod, and that it 

 will be this sudden check to the rod action which causes the 

 clay to leave the rod and fly forward. 



Similarly will the line, actuated by the downward switch 

 of the rod, unroll itself forward as the rod is checked, bringing 

 the fly immediately over the spot on which you wish it to 

 alight. 



These instructions should be carefully considered and 

 practised for periods of two or three minutes at a time, the 

 whole of the exercise not lasting longer than an hour. The 

 student should endeavour to direct the end of the line to 

 some definite mark on the grass, on which the eye should be 

 fixed. A friend may be asked to watch the rod, and to see 

 that it does not incline backward beyond the angle shown 

 in Plate XVII. 



It is of the first importance that when the line is in the 

 air it should always be under the influence of the force 

 applied to it by the rod. The wind when against the back 

 cast, will frequently destroy the backward energy of the 



