154 PLEASURES OF ANGLING. 



exercise of great muscular exertion to get out a long 

 line. They lift their eight or ten ounce trout-rod 

 as if they were lifting a sledge-hammer, and push 

 it out with as much force as they would use to 

 render the blow of a beetle effective. But no long 

 cast was ever secured in that way. A quick but 

 gentle movement, requiring scarcely more muscular 

 exertion than the natural swing of the arm, is all 

 that is necessary, taking care, however, that the 

 line extends its full length backward before you 

 force it to its forward movement. This is the sim- 

 ple single rule, by adhering to which, after reason- 

 able practice, any one may make as long casts as 

 are ever profitable. The same rule holds good in 

 wielding the heavy double-handed salmon-rod, 

 except that its greater weight requires greater exer- 

 tion. But even here, length of line follows regu- 

 larity of movement rather than muscular force, 

 and yet without springy and well-balanced rods 

 neither skill nor muscle will be of any avail. It is 

 easier for me to cast eighty feet with one of my 

 salmon-rods than fifty feet with another. In the 

 one, every fibre, from tip to reel, seems instinct 

 with life, while the other is as rigid and irrespon- 

 sive as a hoop-pole. But, given a good rod and 

 ordinarily skillful manipulation, no angler is excus- 

 able who cannot easily cast his trout-line sixty and 

 his salmon-line ninety feet, where there are no 

 obstructions within the radius of the cast. 



