STREAMCRAFT 



It repeatedly has been asserted that "no one 

 may learn casting from books." It is perfectly 

 true that nothing may fill the place of a good 

 coach; but let me assure the beginner that 

 conscientious practise based upon the hints that 

 we are about to enumerate will be productive 

 of infinitely better results than the most devoted 

 personal instruction of one who has acquired a 

 faulty style. We admit withal and to our 

 own chagrin an uncanny excellence of execu- 

 tion attained by a certain few, that is a gift 

 of the gods. 



The novice should heed the caution not to 

 attempt at first to get out any great length of 

 line, but to concentrate his efforts upon clean- 

 cut work; and he must learn that a harmonious 

 balance of line weight and of rod weight or stiffness 

 is absolutely essential to proper and successful 

 casting of the artificial fly. A heavy line is nec- 

 essary to bring out the action of a stiffish rod, 

 but the same line will impede or kill the action of 

 a rod that is too light or whippy to handle it. 

 Lines most commonly used are graded from D, 

 the heaviest, through E, F, and G, to H, the 

 lightest of these five sizes. In most cases a five- 

 ounce rod should carry an E enameled line, 



A. Shipley's Dictionary of Flies; Trout Fly-Fishing in America, by Charles 

 Z. Southard; and The Salmon Fisher, by Charles Hallock. To this we 

 might add The Ouananiche and its Canadian Environment, by E. T. D. 

 Chambers. For the literary side of the subject the reader is referred to 

 the writings of Dr. van Dyke and to the catalog of books in the chapter 

 on "Fishing in Books," in his Fisherman's Luck. 



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