DIFFERENT METHODS OF CASTING 195 



switch and the after-straightening of the rod itself shoots 

 forward in the desired direction, and gradually unrolling 

 on itself, finally brings the fly to the required spot. 



The end of the line, in the Loop, the Switch and the 

 Spey casts, is held by the water, and thus prevented from 

 fouling the danger behind the fisherman, the downward 

 movement of the rod being followed by the unrolling action 

 of the line as it leaves the water and is propelled forward. 



In Plate XXVI. the disturbance caused by the end of 

 the line leaving the water is shown in the left foreground 

 of the picture. The difficulty of this cast consists in avoiding 

 the fouling of the line by the rod in its downward action. 

 With an ordinary length of the line it means either making 

 the action of the rod more or less of a switching character, 

 and making the downward cut of the rod with a slanting 

 down-stream action, instead of a directly vertical downward 

 action in the desired plane, or by drawing or lifting the line 

 and letting it fall sufficiently backward, i.e., clear to the 

 right of the fisherman, the downward forward action of the 

 rod not being made directly over the line cannot, there- 

 fore, foul it (see Plate XLIX., Salmon). 



The former is the easier and the more scientific method 

 the latter by far the most difficult to acquire. If both are 

 done well, there is but little to choose in the ultimate 

 results of either method. 



The various attempts to explain how this useful cast is 

 made, appear to me to be varied only by the individual 

 methods of each fisherman, who has had to work out his 

 own method of making his " Spey throw." 



THE LOOP CAST INSTEAD OF THE SPEY THROW 



When wading and when danger is close behind, the 

 Spey cast as just described can be very conveniently dis- 

 carded for the Loop cast (see p. 329). The Loop cast has 



