THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 271 



the line as follows : " You are a beginner, I presume, and have never 

 handled a rod before. Let the rod for your novitiate be ten or eleven feefc 

 long ; its play inclining rather to faulty stiffness than to over-pliancy. 

 Put the joints or pieces together, the rings standing in a straight line, 

 that the winch-line may run freely through them without any tortuous 

 impediment. Put on your winch with its handle, at first, to its left side, 

 and draw your line through the rings, until there be four or five yards of 

 it out beyond the final ring at the point of the top joint. Turn your 

 rod so that the winch be on the under side, with its handle to your right 

 hand. You are now ready for your first cast. Grasp your rod in your 

 right hand a little above the winch, but not tightly. Your hand must 

 not close firmly with the thumb turned over your knuckles, as if you 

 were going to strike a blow. Your fingers must simply entwine the rod, 

 not squeeze it, and your thumb, the flat, fleshy part downwards, must be 

 straight with the arm, pressing the upper side of the rod, which hold up 

 perpendicularly, and pointing a, little to the left side. Take the tip of 

 the line between the fore-finger and thumb of your left hand : poise your 

 rod loosely and freely, and see that it balances easily in your right hand. 

 .... I'll suppose you on a bank above some river's surface. Move your 

 right wrist and fore-arm round to the right, letting go, just as it is begin- 

 ning to get taut, the tip of the line from your left fingers, and bring 

 round from left to right over your right shoulder the upper part of your 

 rod, describing with the point of it an irregular a horse-shoe circle, and 

 then cast forward with a flinging motion of the wrist and fore-arm. The 

 motion, or action of the wrist must predominate over that of the fore-arm 

 and elbow joint. If you follow the above motions exactly, and with fear- 

 less freedom, from four to five feet of the extremity of your line should 

 fall lightly upon the surface of the water. If not, you are wrong, and 

 you must continue practising until you are right." 



To prevent too much of the line falling upon the water, do not bend 

 your body with the cast, or allow the point of your rod to descend be- 

 yond a horizontal position ; indeed not so much, but a little between the 

 horizontal and perpendicular projection. " At first," as I have written 

 in the treatise just named, " you will find, unless you be very handy, and 

 a very apt scholar indeed, that nearly all your line out will fall upon the 

 water, and that the point of your rod will come in contact, or nearly so, 

 with the surface of it. These are the greatest drawbacks to throwing a 

 line well, and if not overcome, the learner must never expect to become 

 an expert fly-fisher. With might and main he must struggle to vanquish 

 them. They are caused by letting the fore-arm fall too low whilst in the 

 act of casting, and bending the body forward in unison with the down- 

 ward motion of the arm. Here is the remedy. When you have made 

 your casting movement brought your rod and line over the shoulder 

 and over and by the right side of your head, and propelled them forwards, 

 the motion of the wrist and elbow joint must be gradually checked as the 

 line is straightening itself in its onward and descending course. The 

 body must be upright, and the chest held rather back. You will find, if 

 you hold your rod properly, that the end of it nearest to you, the part 

 between your hand and the spike, or spud, will come in contact with the 



