CHOICE AND USE OF FLY-ROD 53 



parallel with the water. The back cast should be 

 started rather forcefully; the forward cast should start 

 easily and finish strongly. When fishing do not delay 

 the back cast too long until the flies are at your 

 feet. At first no attempt to gain distance should be 

 made. Reasonable distance comes naturally with in- 

 creased skill in casting without special effort in that 

 direction. Accuracy, rather, is the practical fishing 

 essential ; and try to lay down a light fly. 



As soon as possible learn to handle the line in the 

 left hand; the longer you delay this the harder it is 

 to learn. This method is employed by the majority 

 of experienced fly-fishermen and has numerous ad- 

 vantages. Briefly, the line should be held in the left 

 hand, grasping it between the reel and first guide, thus 

 controlling at all times the rendition and recovery of 

 the line. There should always be a little slack line 

 off the reel for the left hand to work on. When you 

 have progressed with your casting you will learn to 

 shoot out this slack line through the rod guides at the 

 finish of the forward cast, thus adding a number of 

 feet to the cast. Also it is possible to play a trout in 

 this two-handed manner with much more finesse than 

 from the reel. The left hand feels, even anticipates, 

 every movement of the fish, and the trout is never 

 too roughly handled. 



The cast here described is the overhead. There 

 are other advantageous fishing casts such as the side 



