54 THE DRY-FLY MAN'S .HANDBOOK 



and use the forearm as the motive power. It is not 

 a pretty style, but there are undoubtedly many first- 

 rate fishermen who invariably adopt this method with 

 overhanded or steeple casts. Again, Mr. E. Valentine 

 Corrie, who is one of the most stylish and at the same 

 time one of the most effective dry-fly men, has a 

 peculiar method of his own. He brings his rod back 

 to the resting-point (as I have called it before) when 

 returning his fly, makes a distinct pause, and then 

 drops his hand further backwards. He then comes 

 forward in the usual way, stops at about the usual 

 angle, and then deflects his rod further forward by 

 dropping his hand forwards. It is difficult to explain, 

 and as far as I can remember I have never seen 

 another first-rate fisherman do this. His movements 

 throughout the action of returning and casting are 

 quite slow and without effort, and he places a fly with 

 the greatest accuracy and delicacy combined. 



In my former book this cast was described as the 



downward cut, but I have dis- 

 The downward finish, carded the expression cut and 



substituted for it the word 

 finish, because to my mind the word cut suggests 

 something in the shape of a hit or jerk, which is the 

 one thing to be avoided at the finish of this cast. The 

 downward finish is used by the best fishermen only 

 in cases where the wind is nearly in their teeth. With 

 a cross wind the horizontal or underhanded cast is 

 used, and this will be described later in this chapter. 

 The downward finish is made in the same manner 



