FLY-FISHING. 397 



right here let me say, beware of the angling brag who 

 declares that he can cast his tail-fly into a glass of water 

 at fifty feet every time ! It can't be done. Also fight 

 shy of the long-range fisher who insists that he can cast 

 a hundred feet with ease ! It can't be done. The long- 

 est cast, with a single-handed rod. I ever saw, without 

 "loaded" flies, was eighty-one feet, and I believe the 

 longest on record is Seth Green's eighty-six feet; while 

 at the last (1880) tournament held by the New York State 

 Sportsman's Association, seventy feet won the first prize. 

 When the beginner can cast his fly into his hat, eight 

 tinres out of ten, at forty feet, he is a fly-fisher; and, so 

 far as casting is concerned, a good one. 



But let us go back to our tyro, who has now become 

 proficient with the short line, for it is' time to lengthen 

 his cast, which is done in this way : After casting and rov- 

 ing his flies on the surface by zigzag, jerky motions, to the 

 left or right, and without provoking a rise, he pulls off 

 from the reel with the left hand three or four feet of line; 

 and, lifting his rod, slowly at first, by a gradually increas- 

 ing motion, lifts the leader and flies, and throws them 

 backward over the left shoulder, as before described. The 

 resistance of the leader and flies, before they leave the 

 water, takes the extra length of line from the rod, and it 

 is unfolded behind the angler into a straight line, when he 

 casts it forward over the right shoulder. 



In this way the line is lengthened at every cast, if nec- 

 essary, until the maximum or desired distance is reached. 

 But the angler should never let his flies touch the ground 

 behind him ; but must so time the movement as to propel 

 the line forward at exactly the right moment to prevent 

 this. 



