TROUBLES OF A BEGINNER 433 



kind of tackle may be used, whether it be fine or 

 coarse, the casting must be performed by the wrist, 

 so as not to allow the casting-line to go too far to the 

 rear. 



In brook-fishing, some thirty odd yards of line is 

 sufficient, and the rod must be of such a build as to 

 cast such a fine description of line cleanly and neatly, 

 for nothing is more annoying than for the gut to crack 

 off and form knots by reason of a rod being too whippy. 

 Every beginner, however, is sure to lose any number 

 of flies, and in his endeavours to keep the line taut 

 behind him he is very apt to overdo it and so catch 

 in the grass ; or else, if the return is made too 

 hurriedly, a loud crack is the consequence, and if the 

 fly is not whipped off, the gut is probably half broken 

 through, and on hookingr a fish afterwards, no matter 

 how small it may be, the latter walks off with the flies 

 and half of the cast, much to his (the caster's) astonish- 

 ment. 



If the line is too weighty for the rod, the attempt to 

 cast lightly will and must result in a splash, thereby 

 scaring every fish in the pool, added to which the rod 

 will most certainly be strained and twisted, and not 

 improbably broken, thereby affording the user the 

 pleasure of having- to sit down and mend it as best 

 he may, or go home ; nor does the mischief end here, 

 for a mended rod is never quite the same as before. 

 If the line is too heavy for the powers of a rod, the 

 latter must, in any case, wear out in no time instead of 

 lasting for a lifetime. If a line when cast backwards 

 feels heavy, it may at once be assumed that it is more 

 than the powers of the rod are equal to. One can 

 hardly be too particular in these little matters which 



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