200 FLY-FISHING IN MAINE LAKES. 



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though your artist will have as many different varie- 

 ties as that in his fly-book. It is not a good plan to 

 have many to carry over : the sneil is apt to weaken 

 with age, as I have before said in these pages. 



Now you have your implements, step out on that 

 rock, and begin your casts, first looking behind you 

 to see that your flies don't go " up a tree." Do not 

 attempt to get out too long a line : twenty or thirty 

 feet will be all you will be able to handle at the 

 start, increasing as you become more expert in the 

 art. An experienced fly-fisherman will cast seventy 

 to eighty feet under favorable circumstances. Now 

 draw your flies gently over the surface of the water, 

 and at the proper time, as the flies near you, raise 

 your rod, throwing your line back of you, giving it 

 plenty of time to straighten. I accustomed myself, 

 in learning, to count one, two, three, four, moder- 

 ately, and found the practice quite a help ; remem- 

 ber all novices fail in not taking sufficient time for 

 the back cast. The act of casting should be made 

 from the elbow, and not from the shoulder ; and it 

 is well to learn to cast with the rod in either hand. 



When the fish rises to take the hook, give your 

 wrist a sharp inward turn, quick, but not too hard : 

 this is called " striking." If you miss, and the 

 trout has riot been pricked, he is likely to come 

 again. Now is the time for coolness : if you fail 



