318 HOW TO MAKE LONG CASTS. 



open the hand that clasps the rod and line, and the impetus 

 and weight of the line will take with it some of the loose 

 line, and when it touches the water the hang or drag of 

 the stream will carry out the rest. Before fetching the 

 line off the water for a new cast, the part so let out must 

 be drawn in and allowed to hang loose as before. 



In making a long cast the difficulty is to take all the 

 time possible to allow the line to straighten behind without 

 allowing the fly to touch the ground. For long throwing, 

 the best wind is no wind ; because, although it may be 

 supposed that a wind at your back may help the fly for- 

 wards, it does not help it backwards, and the quantity 

 you can send forward is, as I have said, determined by 

 the quantity you can extend fairly backwards. But for 

 ordinary fishing the performer who can fish some six or 

 seven-and-twenty yards, and fish it well (for there is all 

 the difference in the world between casting and fishing), 

 is a very excellent performer. 



I have mentioned switching 1 in trout-fishing, but it is 

 chiefly used in salmon-fishing. It is a species of cast 

 that is made when there are high banks or rocks at the 

 anglers back, so that he cannot send his line behind him. 

 And it is one that requires some practice to make from 

 the right shoulder, and a good deal more to accomplish 

 neatly from the left. In switching, if the angler can con- 

 trive to wade in a yard or two, he will be able to switch 

 with far less danger to his fly, and more ease to himself, 

 than when standing on the shore, as the object is to deposit 

 the fly on the water previous to casting. If the fisher 

 fetches his fly home only a yard further than it ought to 

 come, he either smashes it or hooks some obstruction. 



Having got a certain length of line out, somehow or 

 anyhow, and being desirous of making a new cast, he raises 



This cast is called by various names ; sometimes ' the Welsh or Spey 

 cast,' or according to the name of some other river where it is practised. 



