208 FLY FISHING AND SPINNING 



of the wrist which must follow if they consciously apply 

 themselves to this advice. 



It is, besides this point, quite unnecessary to advise the 

 beginner to grasp the handle of his rod as tightly as possible, 

 if he wishes to cast a fly with accuracy and delicacy. The 

 rod should be no more tightly grasped than is the pen with 

 which a person writes. The hand should act as the socket 

 joints, which make one vibrant whole of a two or three 

 piece rod, and a moment's reflection will prove that beyond 

 these sockets forming a close fitting union between the 

 different parts of a rod, the female portion of the sockets 

 do not exercise the slightest grasping pressure on the joint 

 they enclose. 



The reason that people offer this advice is because they 

 confuse the principles governing the control of the rod, and 

 possibly because they have been, or are, learning to alter the 

 faulty dependence on a separate wrist control of the rod into 

 a forearm and hand control, and think that it is only by 

 an excess of mental concentration on the grasp of the 

 rod that they can conquer the older and faulty habit of 

 bending the wrist. But none the less, the beginner 

 should have no misconceptions on this important subject. 



In the second edition of a former work (1907), page 8, I 

 say : " If the thumb be pressed firmly against the rod, the 

 wrist cannot be bent, and the rod cannot go back beyond this 

 angle," again I say, on page 219, " this grasp will of necessity 

 produce a rigid wrist, and should therefore assist the sudden 

 check which is so important," but it will be seen that this 

 advice was given to my readers with the object of making 

 them keep the wrist rigid. 



ATTENTION 



Prior to 1907 I had not discovered that all that it was 

 necessary to do in order to keep the wrist under control was 



