THE SCIENCE OF CASTING A TROUT FLY 173 



If the rod, however well its action be modulated, from the 

 top to its handle, does not continue to modulate itself into 

 the elasticity of the arm, there will be a hit, and this hit, 

 though perhaps unobserved when the muscles which control 

 the arm, wrist or hand are fresh and untired, soon becomes 

 apparent when the rod is in constant use, and after a few 

 minutes, an hour, or a few hours, as the case may be, the 

 amount of this hit will most assuredly draw the owner's 

 attention to the relative quality of this defect. 



The dry fly rod then, whose parts are so relatively con- 

 structed as to give the best results when projecting the line 

 and fly, and which brings the least strain on the wrist of the 

 fisherman, will be the one in which no hit can be distinguished 

 when casting with the elbow as pivot, with the muscles of 

 the forearm as the force, and the wrist as an inflexible 

 connection making the forearm and the rod into a vibrant 

 whole from the elbow to the top ring. 



AN APPRECIATION OF THE ABOVE METHODS 



It is with much pleasure that I insert the following 

 letter which I received from a gentleman well-known in 

 athletic circles, and one of the keenest sportsmen I have 

 had the pleasure of meeting. 



" 26th April, 1913. 



" DEAR MR. SHAW, I must write you a short 

 line of thanks for the most excellent lessons you have 

 given me in casting. I finished them with the feeling 

 that for the first time I really know something about 

 the handling of a fly and spinning rod, and that I 

 thoroughly understand the principles on which 

 the various casts depend. I never realized before the 

 degree of power and accuracy which was possible 

 with a rod, or that it could be attained so rapidly and 

 by methods so simple. I do not think that I can 

 describe in fewer or more laudatory words the peculiar 



