368 SALMON AND TROUT. 
oe 
The line should be returned uzder and delivered over the rod. 
To give a fair indication of the difference of position of the 
angler, his rod and line, the accompanying plate (page 367), 
shows in outline their relative positions, one in the overhanded 
and the other in the underhanded cast.! 
There are many good reasons why the underhanded cast 
should at all times, where practicable, be used by the angler 
who desires to be successful. With it he can throw against a 
moderate wind or across a strong one, and his fly will in the 
majority of cases land on the water cocked, or floating with its 
wings up in the natural position. This last is a very essential 
and important point when dealing with shy fish, and with no 
fly and in no style of angling to so great a degree as with the 
May-fly. Besides these advantages, there is another which, if 
possible, is even of greater consequence than either, viz., that 
with the horizontal cast the fisherman himself will work more 
easily keeping quite low down, and, whether returning, casting, 
or drying the fly, neither his rod nor its shadow is ever nearly 
so visible to, and consequently likely to scare, the fish. 
There are only two difficulties to overcome when commenc- 
ing to learn the underhanded cast. The first is to get over the 
cramp caused by the alteration in position of the hand and the 
strain on a set of muscles which are scarcely used at all with 
the overhanded cast. The second, that from the fact of the 
rod-point, and therefore the fly, travelling along the arc of a 
circle of which the hand is the centre, and the plane of which 
is parallel to the plane of the water, it is far more difficult to 
place the fly accurately over the rising fish than with the ordi- 
nary overhanded cast, when it is directed in a straight line 
down onto it. Both of these difficulties are, however, over- 
come by practice and perseverance, and having once mastered 
this cast, the angler will never fail to use it in preference to any 
1 By the courteous permission of Messrs. Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & 
Rivington (Limited), these sketches are taken from the same instantaneous 
photographs as served to illustrate Mr. Halford’s book, Dry-Fly Fishing in 
Thcory and Practice, 
