58 FLOATING FLIES 



comes necessary to use the reel, the rod is 

 simply shifted to the left hand without the 

 awkward necessity of turning it over to bring 

 the reel on top and the fingers of the right 

 hand fall naturally upon the handle of the reel. 



Of the English books on the subject of dry 

 fly fishing I have seen only those of Mr. Hal- 

 ford. In " Dry Fly Fishing," by this author, 

 the cut illustrating the proper grip of the rod 

 shows the reel rigged underneath the rod with 

 its handle to the left, and this is the method 

 advised by the author. It may be said with 

 certainty that this manner of assembling rod 

 and reel is not sanctioned by the majority of 

 American fly-fishermen. 



The manner of casting a fly is best described 

 by an explanation of the overhead cast the 

 typical cast although by no means the one ex- 

 clusively used in fly fishing, and in dry fly fish- 

 ing, for reasons stated below, a cast which is 

 used only when the horizontal cast is for any 

 reason rendered difficult. Having assembled 

 rod, reel, line, leader, and fly, using the knots 

 shown in Chapter III., and taking pains to see 

 that the leader before bending on the fly and 

 attaching to the line has been previously well- 

 softened by soaking in the leader-box, proceed 

 to make the overhead cast as follows. 



