FLY-CASTING AND FLY-FISHING 57 



Most of the written treatises in books and magazines 

 on how to cast with the fly-rod, while as a whole cor- 

 rect, fail somewhat in their purpose because the authors, 

 in treating the entire subject of rod handling, do not 

 place sufficient emphasis on certain particular phases 

 of the matter. Good fly-casting is dependent upon 

 close attention to a number of individual details, some 

 more important than others, but each of such import- 

 ance that if any one of them is neglected the results 

 are not of the best. With long practice observance of 

 these details becomes automatic, but the beginner must 

 keep them firmly fixed in his mind. The following is 

 not an attempt to teach fly-casting, but merely to em- 

 phasize certain details which, at first glance, may have 

 seemed inconsiderable and consequently may not have 

 been strictly observed. 



How to Improve Your Fly-casting 



In the first place let us consider the apparently unim- 

 portant question of how to hold the rod, i.e., the posi- 

 tion of the rod hand on the handgrasp. Nine out of 

 ten beginners at fly-casting would say immediately that, 

 provided the caster does not drop the rod, the method 

 of holding is immaterial. Now the veteran fly-caster 

 and the books on fly-fishing will tell you that the proper 

 way to hold the rod is to have the thumb of the rod 

 hand extended along the upper surface of the handgrasp 

 and not bent around it. There must be some reason 

 for this opinion and advice of the experts, and there is 

 a very good one. In fact, there are two reasons. 



