202 A SCOTTISH FLY-FISHER 



method by which he seeks to accomplish it is deter- 

 mined by the direction of the wind and by the presence 

 or absence of obstacles to the free play of his line. 

 When the wind is behind him and there is, in his 

 vicinity, nothing to interfere with his liberty of action, 

 he employs the "over-handed" cast. The opposition 

 of a head wind he overcomes by the use of the " down- 

 ward cut." When there is a high bank or similar ob- 

 struction behind him or close at his side, or he has the 

 misfortune to be placed between two other anglers on 

 board a boat, he is forced to resort to the *' steeple " 

 cast. Should he desire to present his flies to a fish 

 feedingr under overhanging boug^hs, he has recourse to 

 the "under-handed" cast. 



From the task of describing the various methods in 

 which the fly is thrown I willingly abstain ; it is beset 

 with difficulties much too formidable for an unskilled 

 pen like mine. But I have another and a better 

 reason for abstention ; a reason candour compels me 

 to disclose. On the part of one who only by accident 

 succeeds in placing his lure within a foot of the spot 

 towards which it is his purpose to direct it, it would be 

 the merest impertinence to offer to others instruction in 

 the art of casting. Happily that art is one in which 

 written directions, even when lucidly conveyed, are 



