CASTING NET. 3 



net too high in the air, for this gives the fish 

 more time to escape before it reaches the water : 

 the net ought not to rise higher than midway of 

 your person, nor yet so high if the bank of the 

 stream be elevated. 



Let your net fall flat on the water, as this con- 

 founds the fish, they not knowing which way to 

 rush first ; whereas, if part of your net strikes the 

 water before the other part, they will naturally 

 fly from the splash, and escape before the rest 

 of the net reaches the bottom. All this you must 

 acquire by practice. 



I would now lay down a few rules how to take 

 up the casting net, and how to deliver it. And 

 observe by the way that, next to the art of fly- 

 fishing, you must reckon this of throwing a net, 

 when properly managed, among the most graceful 

 and elegant of amusements in fact, I may almost 

 say accomplishments; but it must be properly ma- 

 naged, for you may otherwise reduce it to a vulgar 

 display of clumsy effort, as witnessed in those 

 fishermen who handle the casting net as if it were 

 a shawl to spread over their back and shoulder, 

 where it is laid with the accompaniments of mud 

 and weeds, and the dirty water left to trickle 

 down their sides and legs, to the destruction of 

 coat, waistcoat, and trousers ; and in this trim, 



B 2 



