A DAY'S FISHING 51 



impetus of the line. This forward extension of the gathered 

 in slack line is known as " shooting." It is evident that 

 should a fish rise at the fly while the line is being thus taken 

 in, the finger and thumb would nip the line as the strike 

 is made. The rod having been held low and the slack line 

 taken in by the hand, the tension will come on the hook 

 before the rod is more than seventy degrees above the 

 horizon, and if the fish is struck this backward action of the 

 rod is continued and absorbs the slack line, as it is then 

 released by the finger and thumb of the left hand, which 

 latter hand, seeking the reel, commences to reel in the line 

 as the fish conies down-stream. 



If the strike be properly made and misses the fish, the 

 line will extend itself backward as in the back cast, and should 

 be brought forward again as in the forward cast, and the 

 slack line which has been held by the finger and thumb 

 is released and allowed to shoot. 



The second method, when the fly has to float from ten to 

 twenty or more feet down-stream, is also to keep the rod 

 point down, but to take up the slack line between the rod 

 point and the water by using the reel. It must be evident that 

 the slack can thus be absorbed by the reel until the fly has 

 only a few feet more to float down-stream, when the first 

 method as above described can be adopted. 



The third manner, used when fishing out a short cast with 

 a short length of line, is to raise the rod point as the line 

 comes back, and when the back cast has to be made, the 

 rod point is first lowered and the line is gathered in by the 

 hand and the backward and forward cast is then made, the 

 finger and thumb releasing the line at the end of the down- 

 ward action as usual, etc. 



Gathering in the line with the hand, and at the same time 

 raising the rod point, is a common fault. As the line and 

 the fly on the water must not be disturbed, it must be 



