THE LENGTH OF CASTS. 317 



does not cast with the but or main joints of his rod, and 

 need not therefore try to bring them into play. The part 

 of the rod which sends the fly home is the most pliable 

 part ; why not, then, let that do its duty, instead of trying 

 to make the less pliable parts take its place, which they 

 cannot and do not do ? 



And now as to long casting. Thirty yards from the reel 

 to the fly is good casting, and every yard beyond that very 

 good casting ; and whenever you hear a person bragging 

 of long casting, ask him whether he measured the cast, 

 and how he measured it, as fishermen do not always carry 

 a yard measure, and are apt to measure too much by com- 

 putation and too kindly to themselves. The longest cast 

 I ever measured was within a foot of thirty-eight and a 

 half yards from the reel, and that was cast by the late Sir 

 F. Sykes, who was a tall and powerful man, and who 

 was fishing with a twenty-foot rod, which I could hardly 

 manage. I may have seen longer casts, and I think I 

 have, but I did not have the opportunity of measuring 

 them. The most I could ever manage was thirty-four and 

 a half yards from the reel, and this I did on one or two 

 occasions with two different rods, one eighteen and the 

 other nineteen feet long the former a ferruled, and the 

 latter a spliced rod ; but it was from a boat, and conse- 

 quently there was no hazard of smashing the fly if it touched 

 behind. Pat Hearns, of Ballina, has, I believe, cast forty- 

 two yards. I do not know whether it was measured from 

 the point or the reel ; but as it was for a wager, and many 

 gentlemen were looking on, the fact is indisputable. 



There is a very good dodge which is practised when a 

 very long cast is required to be fished. Having as much 

 line as you can cast out, draw a yard or two off the reel, 

 and let it hang down between the hand and reel as in 

 spinning ; when you have made the forward impulse, and 

 the fly is rushing towards the point sought to be reached, 





