FLY FISHING. 39 



part you intend for throwing. A thirteen-foot wand 

 will cast from six to seven fathoms of line. With a 

 large double-handed rod, you may manage a much 

 greater length. Always, if you can, angle from a dis- 

 tance. Trout see you, when you least imagine, and 

 skulk off without your notice. Noise they care little 

 about ; you may talk and stamp like a madman, without 

 frightening them ; but give them a glimpse of your per- 

 son, and they won't stay to take another. Some ich- 

 thyologists attribute to them an acute sense of hearing. 

 This we are disposed to question ; for how happens it, 

 that the most obstreperous rattling of stones when 

 wading, causes no alarm, although conveyed to them 

 through the medium of water, a good conductor of 

 sounds ? We remember angling one still night by St 

 Mary's Loch, when our movements were heard dis- 

 tinctly by some shepherds from the distance of a mile, 

 and yet the fish rose eagerly at our very feet, following 

 our fly to the shallowest parts of the margin ; a fact 

 which, if it does not prove the obtusity of hearing, at 

 any rate renders it a matter of little consequence to the 

 angler. We shall enter more at large upon this subject 

 in a future chapter and to proceed, 



It requires some art to throw a long line. The be- 

 ginner should commence with a short one, and with- 

 out flies ; lengthening it gradually as he improves. The 

 best method of casting, is to bring the rod slowly over 

 the right or left shoulder, and, with a turn of the wrist, 

 make the line circle behind you ; then, after a pause, 

 fetch it forward again in the same manner, and your 

 flies will descend softly upon the water. All jerks are 

 apt to whip off your hooks or crack your gut. A fly 

 fisher may use two, three, or four flies on his casts, ac- 

 cording to pleasure. When angling with small hooks, 

 we adopt the medium number. Large ones ought to 



