144 PRACTICAL FLY FISHING 



and how to extend his cast he should devote consider- 

 able practice to obtain good casting " form." That is, 

 he should learn to cast easily with no suggestion of 

 awkwardness or muscular effort; his back cast should 

 be high and his forward cast ending with the line well 

 straightened out in front, not full of kinks which not 

 only looks bunglesome but frequently prevents one 

 hooking a rising fish in anything but the swiftest water. 



The young caster should learn also to drop his fly 

 and only the smallest amount of line and leader on the 

 water. By this I mean that he should not " slam " 

 the fly, leader and line on the water. Raising the rod 

 tip slightly at the end of the cast helps in this respect. 



A good plan, while practicing or fishing, is to 

 imagine that you are casting into a big glass jar full 

 of clear water, the edges of which are about four feet 

 above the surface of the stream. Try to picture in 

 your mind a very large, wary fish lying in this jar 

 looking out at you so you must keep your upper arm 

 and elbow pressed close to your side and cast with the 

 forearm only to make as little movement as possible, 

 to avoid scaring the fish. Imagine you are casting into 

 the jar over its high edge. This will make you stop 

 the forward cast while the fly is some distance from 

 the water, letting it fall mostly of its own weight. 



More important as a fishing essential than good cast- 

 ing " form " is accuracy. I wish I could devote several 

 pages to this subject in order to impress the beginner 

 with its importance but little can be said accuracy 

 is something to be practiced and a day on the stream 



