CHAPTEK XX. 



A SHORT ESSAY ON FLY CASTING. 



But, Johnnie, I maun, as ye'r frien', warn ye that it's no' the 

 fly, nor the water, nor the rod, nor the win', nor the licht, can 

 dae the job, wi'oot the watchfu' e'e and steady han', and a 

 feeling for the business that's kin' o' born wi' a fisher, but 

 hoo that comes aboot I dinna ken. [Donald Macleod, D. D. 



KDINAKILY the waters of these 

 salmon rivers are so transparent 

 that in still pools long casts are 

 indispensable to success. I make 

 this qualification because great 

 length of line is not so necessary 

 in pools whose surface is broken 

 by the current ripples, which 

 serve the same purpose in a sal- 

 mon pool that a sharp breeze 

 does on trout waters they blur the vision of the 

 fish and render a more near approach feasible. But 

 I never cast in either without parodying Napoleon's 

 maxim : " Providence is on the side of the heaviest 

 battalions : " success is on the side of the longest 

 casts. I remember very well where I first learned 

 this lesson. Many years ago, long before the North 

 Woods became the fashionable resort of mere plea- 



