THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [PART II. 



your line to keep your fly in the water : and in casting your 

 fly, you must aim at the further, or nearer, bank, as the wind 

 serves your turn : which also will be with and against you 

 on the same side, several times in an hour, as the river winds 

 in its course ; and you will be forced to angle up and down 

 by turns accordingly ; but are to endeavour, as much as you 

 can, to have the wind evermore on your back. And always 

 be sure to stand as far off the bank, as your length will give 

 you leave when you throw to the contrary side: though, 

 when the wind will not permit you so to do, and that you 

 are constrained to angle on the same side whereon you 

 stand, you must then stand on the very brink of the river, 

 and cast your fly at the utmost length of your rod and line, 

 up or down the 'river as the gale serves. 



It only remains, touching your line, to inquire whether 

 your two hairs, next to the hook, are better twisted, or 

 open. And for that, I should declare that I think the open 

 way the better, because it makes less show in the water ; 

 but that I have found an inconvenience, or two, or three, 

 that have made me almost weary of that way : of which, one 

 is, that, without dispute, they are not so strong open as 

 twisted ; l another, that they are not easily to be fastened of 

 so exact an equal length in the arming, that the one will 

 not cause the other to bag, by which means a man has but 

 one hair, upon the matter, to trust to ; and the last is, that 

 these loose flying hairs are not only more apt to catch upon 



water, and showing the flies well to the fish. The best way that I can 

 direct is : When you have thrown out your line, contriving to let it fall 

 lightly and naturally, you should raise your rod gently, and by degrees ; 

 sometimes with a kind of a gentle tremulant flourish, which will bring the 

 flies on a little towards you, still letting them go down with the stream ; 

 but never draw them against it, for it is unnatural : and before the line 

 comes too near you, throw out again. When you see a fish rise at a natural 

 fly, throw about a yard above him, but not directly over his head, and let 

 your fly (or flies) move gently towards him, which will show it him in a 

 more natural form, and tempt him the more to take it. Experience and 

 observation alone, however, can make an angler a complete adept in the 

 art." Taylor's Art of Angling, Those who wish for anything more in 

 detail may consult South' s (ed. Chitty's) "Fly-Fisher's Text Book," where 

 twenty pages, illustrated by diagrams, are devoted to the subject. 



1 In the original text, the words are tivisted as open; contrary to what 

 is, evidently, from the connection, the author's meaning ; the editor has, 

 therefore, transposed the words. H. 



