DRAG 117 



should only be adopted under conditions where it is 



impossible to get below and cast up to the rising 



trout. 



Many fly-fishermen, and especially those who have 



gained their experience with 

 Advice to lower hand ^^^ ^^^y. ^ j^^^ ^^e habit 



as fly lands on the r ■ ■ 1 T 1 1 1 i- ^ 

 . 01 raismg the hand holdmg the 



rod as soon as the fly has 

 landed on the water. The effect of this must be to 

 straighten the line and cause the fly to drag. The 

 moment the fly lands on the water the hand must 

 be lowered so as to slacken the line, and this will 

 effectually retard the drag for some time. This rule 

 of lowering the hand as the fly falls may be laid 

 down as a maxim with every style of cast and under 

 all conditions, except when there is an exceptionally 

 fast run immediately under the rod-point. In such 

 a case the hand, or even the arm, must be raised so 

 as to prevent the line from hanging in this fast run, 

 which would at once cause drag. 



The major portion of a chalk-stream consists of 



stretches in which the water 

 Fishing very fast runs, flows at only a moderate pace, 



but there are lengths below 

 weirs or hatch-holes, or where the fall of the river is 

 very rapid, where the water flows almost at the pace 

 of a mountain torrent. Such places are not easy to 

 fish, and the angler to succeed must keep well out of 

 sight by crouching, kneeling, or even lying down and 

 fish a very short line. He must fish this short line 



