Casting the Fly. 339 



to a faulty beginning, and to vicious and pertinacious 

 habits thus unconsciously formed. 



I believe with even greater confidence than when it 

 was written, that the system set forth in this chapter 

 will, if followed with patience and perseverance, surety 

 accomplish the desired result. As some acquire manual 

 skill more readily than others, so will the degree of 

 patience and practice required to attain this end vary 

 with different individuals. But I sincerely believe that 

 his or her clumsiness must be indeed phenomenal, who 

 cannot, without a sight of water other than that in some 

 domestic utensil, acquire the art of casting the fly with 

 more than the average degree of skill in a single close 

 season. Remember the secrets of its success lie in the 

 friendly aid of a coach willing to be guided by its pre- 

 cepts, and in the back cast. 



Some act and talk as though casting were the entire 

 art of fly-fishing, and grade an angler solely by the dis- 

 tance he can cover with his flies. This is a great mis- 

 take and pernicious in its influence. Casting is but a 

 method of placing the fly before the trout without alarm- 

 ing it, and within its reach. It is merely placing food be- 

 fore a guest. The selection of such food as will suit, and 

 so serving it as to please a fastidious and fickle taste, still 

 remain indispensably necessary to induce its acceptance. 



Further than I have done in this book, and I am well 

 aware how inadequate it is, I cannot advise what flies 

 will please. The most experienced are often at their 

 wits' ends in this respect, and if they find any solution at 

 all to the problem in hand, find it where they least ex- 

 pect, and when, after having exhausted every resource 

 of their skill, they leave the selection to chance rather 

 than judgment. 



