Making and Using a Casting Rod 



II. — The manner of making the 

 cast and controlling the line 



By Stillman Taylor 



BAIT casting with the modern short 

 casting rod is altogether unlike the 

 old method handling the nine foot 

 bait rod. In the new style the casting is 

 done from the reel, and after a little 



Fig. 7. The control of the line is entirely reg- 

 ulated by pressure of the thumb on the spool 



practice, it is easy to project the minnow 

 or other weight a distance of 75 or 100 ft. 

 Casting is good sport in itself apart from 

 fishing, and by attaching a Y^-oz. weight 

 to the line, practice and contests may be 

 indulged in upon any open lot, or in the 

 public park. 



A good smoothly running reel is an 

 important part of the casting outfit, and 

 while the expert tournament casters often 

 pay $25 or more for their jeweled reels, 

 a very fine reel may be had for about $5, 

 and serviceable ones as low as $1.50. The 

 kind of reel to buy is of the long barreled 

 type, having a capacity of about 80 to 



Fig. 8. The underhand cast is started from 

 this position, the tip being about breast high 



100 yards of line. A satisfactory reel is 

 shown in Fig. 7, with which no trouble is 



likely to be encountered in making fairly 

 accurate casts up to 150 feet. This reel 

 costs about $1.75. 



A good silk line is likewise needed, and 

 while the softer braided silk casting lines 

 are somewhat easier to thumb and less 

 likely to tangle up when you happen to 

 get a backlash, the harder braids soak up 

 less water and will prove most durable. 

 For tournament use, soft braided lines are 

 best ; for fishing, pick out the hard braided 

 kind. 



As the control of the line is entirely regu- 

 lated by pressure of the thumb on the 



Fig. 9. The rod is brought quickly forward 

 across the body in the direction of the cast 



spool, this "thumbing" the line is easiest 

 done when the spool is well filled with line. 

 It is not often necessary to purchase a 

 longer line than 50 yards, and if this 

 amount does not entirely fill the spool 

 of the reel, simply wind on a length of 

 common string to form a core, and wind 

 on the line over it to fill up the spool. 

 Many of the expensive casting reels are 

 fitted with cork or wooden cores or arbors, 

 but the string core will answer all purposes. 



Two styles of casting are much used, the 

 underhand and the overhead cast. As the 

 whole secret of casting lies in thumbing 

 the line, the novice should grasp the rod 

 in the correct manner, as shown in Fig. 7. 



The underhand cast is the easiest, and 



627 



