NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLY-FisHina. 461 
force, when, still accelerating the speed, the angler delivers 
his fly at the spot upon which he wishes it to alight. This 
throwing from the left shoulder is chiefly useful where 
there are low bushes, or other impediments near the 
ground behind the angler, under which circumstances the 
fly must be kept aloft; but sometimes the reverse is the 
case, and with impending trees and a bare background, the 
right shoulder or back-casting will avail much better than 
the rival mode above alluded to; but it is not so manage- 
able with the two-handed rod as with the light single- 
handed trout-rod, which may be used with as much cer- 
tainty and facility as the four-in-hand whip. Mr. Stoddart 
lays it down as a rule that no man can manage properly, 
without the aid of the wind, a line more than four times 
the length of his rod, measuring from the fly to its point, 
and not including that part within the rings. This is 
certainly much within what is generally considered the 
extreme length of the salmon-line, and many professed 
fishers maintain that they can throw nearly twice ag far as 
that length will command. But there is a vast difference 
between simply throwing a fly, and throwing it cleverly 
and effectually; still I cannot help thinking that Mr. 
Stoddart has a little underrated the power of the salmon- 
rod and line in good hands, when he limits the range to 
35 yards from the spot where the angler stands. This I 
should say is about the average length of good fly-fishers, 
but I should think that some few tall and muscular men; 
who are also adepts, can command nearly 10 yards more, 
when the air is perfectly still, and the situation is favorable 
to the display of their power and skill, Much must 
