1 68 ELEMENTS OF ANGLING. 



with the current, or to cast it into a pool and let it 

 sink. One has to make it move jerkily under 

 water like a minnow suffering from nerves. This 

 is best done by repeated but slight pulls from the 

 rod-top, and most easily, in rivers, when one has 

 cast not up but down stream. For the most part it 

 is down-stream work, and one aims at casting down 

 and across at such an angle that the point of the 

 rod is always in touch with the fly, and is not 

 separated from it by a sagging line. The angle 

 varies according to the pace of the stream, but in 

 general it cannot be a very wide one if the line is 

 to be kept pretty straight. When the line is much 

 bellied it makes the fly drag through the water in 

 an unattractive manner, and hooking a fish, if one 

 should rise, is much more difficult. At first the 

 novice should practise with a shortish line until he 

 feels more or less intimate with his fly's behaviour. 

 Then he may lengthen line as much as he likes 

 and can. A long line in down-stream fishing is 

 often essential, and he will do well to learn to 

 " shoot " a yard or two. This, consists in drawing 

 a little extra line off the reel, holding it between 

 the forefinger and thumb of the hand on the rod, 

 and releasing it when the line is nearly extended 

 in the forward cast. The weight of the line in the 

 air pulls the rest through the rings, and several 



