326 FLY FISHING AND SPINNING 



cannot be made. In casting backward in the ordinary over- 

 head manner it is nearly always impossible for the fisherman 

 to guide his line accurately, and were such an attempt made 

 when the open space is small, the backward cast would result 

 in the line and fly hitting the trees instead of being directed 

 safely through them as described above. 



The Galway cast can be best practised as a substitute for 

 the ordinary overhead method of casting a fly backward 

 and forward in one plane. When the Galway Cast is thus 

 perfected it can be introduced into the Wye cast, and made 

 directly after the lifting and side swing movement into the 

 new plane of the latter cast has been made. 



In Plate XXXII. the fisherman is raising his rod prior 

 to turning. In Plate XXXIII. he has turned. 



The time that a salmon line of thirty-five yards in length 

 will take to extend itself after the conclusion of either the 

 backward or the forward cast will be about one-and-a-half 

 seconds, thus giving ample time for the forward turning 

 movement I have described above to take place. A point 

 which the fisherman should now remember is that he will 

 have to make one whole turn in order to complete the Galway 

 cast with the salmon rod, and that while making both the 

 backward and the forward half turns, the rod beyond 

 being lifted in the plane in which it lies has not to be moved 

 to either side of that plane. 



If it be desired to introduce the Galway variation of 

 the back cast into the Wye cast movement, the rod is first 

 lowered to the water downstream, and any slack line is 

 gathered in with the left hand. The rod is then lifted to 

 an angle of between fifty and seventy degrees (see 

 Plate XXXII. ), the body and rod sweep round until they 

 are facing across stream in the direction in which the line has 

 to fall, and the turning movement (Plate XXXIIL) of the 

 Galway cast is then made, the back cast is finished 



