FISHING AT HOME AND ABROAD 



elbow, the rod makes a loud " swoosh " in the forward stroke; if it is 

 from the shoulder, the cast will be noiseless, unless it be made against a 

 stiff breeze, when the line will make a whistling sound. 



When fishing with a fairly long line, it is expedient to shorten it before 

 recovery for the next cast by drawing in two or three yards which, lying 

 loose, may be released at the moment of casting. In overhead or under- 

 hand casting, but not in Spey casting, it should be the fisher's object 

 to cause the fly to fall on the water, if not before the line, at all events 

 not after it. It must be confessed that, in a swollen river, a lubberly cast 

 is almost as likely to raise a fish as a skilful one, but the act of casting 

 becomes a pleasure when the knack of doing it artistically has been ac- 

 quired; and it will be found that if, at the last moment of delivering the 

 cast, a slight tilt upwards is given to the butt, the line will extend itself 

 more freely, and the fly drop more lightly than when the action is a single 

 forward one. This tilt also allows the loose line to run more freely through 

 the rings. 



All the motions in casting must be even and continuous; nothing ap- 

 proaching a jerk must be permitted, save in the last movement of the 

 Spey cast. The end of the cast is quite as critical as the beginning. After 

 drawing in two or three yards of slack, there should be a momentary 

 poise before lifting the fly from the water, first, to prepare the rod for the 

 strain of lifting a heavy line, and second, to avoid a smash by a fish taking 

 it at the last moment. Many a top joint has been shivered by a salmon 

 seizing the fly just before it is violently snatched from the water; still 

 more often a salmon which has followed the fly round and is about to seize 

 it, has had it whisked away from him. It is a rule to which I have never 

 met with an exception that a flsh disappointed in that manner cannot 

 be tempted to renew the offer. 



This leads to another point in practice wherein salmon-fishing differs 

 essentially from trout-fishing. The trout-fisher, no matter how adept 

 he is — nay, the more adept he is at his own craft — must break himself 

 of the habit of striking on the rise. Nothing is more difficult. In trout- 

 fishing, unless one strikes directly the water is seen to break, it is not 

 likely that the trout will be hooked. If one does so in salmon-fishing, he 

 is almost certain to miss his fish. I have satisfied myself of this by watch- 

 ing from a height the fly of an angler below me. A salmon rises to the 

 fly; sometimes he takes a look and sinks down again without breaking 

 the surface of the water. The angler is unconscious that he has moved a 

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