THE IMPLEMENTS OP SALMON FISHING 245 



By neatness, we intend the knack of so delivering the line that each 

 one of the cast of flies shall alight upon the surface of the water 

 singly and severally, and as lightly as the thistle-down, without any 

 portion of the foot-length, much less of the line, bagging or falling in 

 a bight upon the stream. 



This delivering of the cast at the end of a perfectly straight, yet 

 perfectly easy line, is the first great thing to be obtained. If we 

 attempt to throw the flies, except after having 'made them describe a 

 full semicircle in the direction opposite to the purposed cast, we shall 

 throw them nowhere. 



If we fling out the whole line loosely, it will fall in a baggy bight 

 upon the water, probably striking the surface in advance of the flies, 

 and certainly making a splash and scaring away the fish which we 

 desire to allure. 



If we check it too suddenly, or jerk it back at all, we shall snap off 

 all our flies with a loud crack, and so remain disarmed and useless 

 for the nonce. 



In practising, the novice should use but a short line, five or six yards 

 at the utmost, and a single fly — and when he can throw that with 

 certainty into a space of a few feet in circumference, he may gradually 

 let out his line till he has reached fifteen yards, which I regard as the 

 extreme length that can be managed with certainty, neatness, and 

 precision, and add to the stretcher his first and second droppers, more 

 than which are wholly useless. 



Having said thus much of the mode of casting the flies, we will 

 suppose our angler clad in the plainest and least obtrusive colors, at 

 the margin of the stream, if it be such as he can command with hia 

 double-handed rod, or wading it if not too deep, or in his boat if it be 

 too broad to be oast over successfully. 



First, he shall go down stream ; for the motion of the water will so 

 keep his line taut, the benefit of which hereafter ; and he will also 

 have fewer casts to make, and find less trouble in giving a natural and 

 easy movement to the artificial insect, which he must keep ever floating 

 on the surface. Furthermore, the fish are wont to lie, especially in 

 swift waters, with their heads up stream, and will therefore perhaps 

 take the fly most readily when cast down, and drawn gently over them. 



Secondly, he must on no account fish with the sun behind his back, 



