SWITCHING 117 



Raising the point of the rod high in the air, so as to lift as much 

 of his line as possible clear of the water without lifting the fly 

 altogether off the surface, he must make a sharp forward and 

 downward cut, and the fly without going behind him at all 

 will rise from the water and describe a large arc of a circle 

 in the air towards the point he wishes. A wind at the back 

 will much facilitate the making of this cast effectually. Occa- 

 sionally he will meet with a piece of water where the trees are 

 not only close at his back but where their branches stretch 

 out over the water, often just above his head. This is usually 

 tabooed ground, as not one fisher in a thousand can cast a 

 fly in it. Here, however, " recubans sub tegmine," the largest 

 trout lie, and therefore it is as well that the angler should take 

 some trouble to learn how to fish such a spot. Now, suppose 

 the branches to be some five feet only above the surface of the 

 stream, and the banks well bushed. The angler must stoop 

 down on one knee, extend the rod over the water, parallel to it, 

 some eighteen inches above it probably he will find it easier 

 to fish it down-stream if at all rapid and letting a line out 

 about half as long again as the rod with the fingers of the hand 

 which grasps the rod turned downwards towards the water's 

 surface, the back of the hand being upwards he must be 

 particular about this, as the whole virtue of the cast lies in 

 the peculiar position and the reversal of the hand he must 

 twitch the line sharply off the water and directly up the stream, 

 being careful not to bring the point of the rod too far round, 

 or the fly will catch the bushes on the bank on his own side, 

 nor higher than suffices to fetch the line off the water, or he 

 will take hold of the branches above it. When the line is 

 fairly extended up-stream he may make his cast by bringing 

 his hand back again over the same distance it has just travelled, 

 but as he does so he must reverse the position of the fingers 

 of his hand, these being brought upwards while the back of the 

 hand is brought under towards the water. The whole secret 

 of the cast lies in this turning over of the hand. If this be 

 done properly, the angler can fish such spots safely, and can 

 pitch his fly fairly and lightly across the stream, while in no 

 other way that he can devise will he be able to do more than 

 to cast it directly down the stream, or if it ever chances to go 

 across, it will go with such a splash as will render the cast 

 worse than useless, while he will be perpetually fouling in the 

 branches above or catching on the surface of the water behind 

 or up-stream. This cast is difficult to learn and requires much 



