May 24, 1913 
FOREST AND STREAM 
657 
Surf Casting 
Second Paper 
By SWITCH REEL 
O NCE upon a time a New Jersey surf fish¬ 
erman was heard to state that he could 
cast better in the northeast wind than in 
a west wind. 
This was greatly surprising, as the coast of 
that State from Sandy Hook to Barnegat Inlet 
swings but little west of a line drawn from 
north to south, and casting in a northeaster 
means casting almost into its teeth. While our 
friend’s reputation as a fisherman and a man 
of truth is high, yet his reputation as a caster 
might be somewhat better, but still the connec¬ 
tion between his lack in that direction^ and his 
remark about the northeast wind was not at 
once apparent. 
Once upon another time a New York surf 
fisherman was heard holding forth at an anglers’ 
club tournament upon the necessity for carrying 
the swing of the rod completely through, as the 
bat and the golf stick are carried through. My 
friend of the northeast wind is notoriously bad 
at carrying the swing through. When facing 
east, he generally stops his rod with the tip 
pointing about south or perhaps a little east of 
south. 
Last season the longest cast recorded in any 
tournament within the writer’s knowledge, 292 
feet, was made by a caster who does not quite 
carry his rod through. Yet in practice some of 
his unsuccessful opponents had far exceeded that 
distance. 
All these statements are of truth. What, 
then, is the factor which is to harmonize their 
seeming contradictions? The philosophers tell 
us that truth is harmony, so there must be some 
way to reconcile them. 
For want of a better term, the writer would 
name this factor “pointing,” meaning thereby the 
direction in which the rod is pointing while the 
lead is tearing yard after yard of line through 
the air. 1 | 
A previous article mentioned what appears 
to the writer to be a fact, to wit: that a surf 
line, during the progress of a cast, possesses 
a sort of rigidity in motion. In other words, 
it absorbs somewhat of the quality of a flying 
bullet or a flying sinker to resist deflection from 
its course. Unquestionably the course of a surf 
line is the curve it occupies from the sinker to 
the reel. After the caster has imparted his 
power to the lead and lets go, he has no con¬ 
trol over it except to stop it. Therefore, he 
may disregard the lead and devote his whole 
thought and care to the line. And, discounting 
“birds’ nests” and “back lashes,” the limit of 
his ability is reached in preventing deflection as 
far as possible. If the lead could only make 
a hole in the atmosphere which the line would 
follow, we should see what would be considered 
wonderful casts to-day. 
But the weight of the line tends to deflect 
it downward, and modified by speed and wind, 
will show a potent influence also. The down- 
A FIFTY-POUND CHANNEL BASS. 
Taken on New Jersey Coast. 
ward tendency of weight can be modified by cut¬ 
ting weight down and using the' lightest suitable 
line for the purpose, and after that is done the 
downward tendency may be disregarded. 
The only remaining influence to be con¬ 
sidered then is the wind. 
Now let us see why the first mentioned 
caster casts better in a northeast wind. A north¬ 
east wind along the upper Jersey coast is about 
an II o’clock wind to the caster. Our friend 
stops his rod when it points to about 2 o’clock. 
and the ii o’clock wind carries the progressing 
line more and more into the 2 o’clock direction. 
The result of this is that there is less and less 
abrupt deflection of the line at the tip of the 
rod and a comparatively good cast results. But 
since the prevailing summer winds along the 
coast are west and south; in other words, 5 to 8 
o’clock winds, their effect upon a line passing 
through the tip of a rod, pointed at 2 o’clock, 
is to throw a more or less acute deflection, and 
the worst of friction right at the tip, and that’s 
where our friend’s reputation as a caster is lost. 
Should he carry the swing through and avoid 
the abrupt angle, made by the line in passing 
through the tip of the rod, his cast would be 
considerably lengthened when the wind is in the 
prevailing quarter, i. e., 5 to 8 o’clock. But his 
habitual pointing is best only in the 11 o’clock 
wind. 
No argument need be brought forward in 
support of the plea to carry the rod entirely 
through. The common sense of it is apparent 
at a glance. It, is obviously the thing to do 
when the wind is at one’s back, for then the 
correct pointing is obtained. But in the 9 o’clock 
wind, which held strong all day when the win¬ 
ning 292 feet, cast above mentioned was made, 
the unconscious “form” of the winner caused 
him to stop the motion of his hands when the 
tip of his rod was pointing about i or 2 o’clock. 
“Pointing,” then, seems to be the factor 
which reconciles our triangle of contradictions. 
•The application of this factor to surf-casting, 
and possibly to light bait-casting with single- 
handed rods, would call upon the caster to keep 
his eyes on . his line at the tip of the rod and 
just beyond. If an angle appears in the line, 
a slight movement of the tip dissipates it ere 
much damage is done. Let us not think that 
the whole secret of casting lies in thumbing, 
once the weight has been properly started on its 
journey. Thumbing is a fine art and must be 
mastered first, but after it comes the art of 
sustaining a smooth and uninterrupted curve in 
the line from reel to sinker, and these words 
are written to aid in the capture of that art 
through “pointing.” 
Pointing is applicable to side casting and 
to overhead style. It is more easily accom¬ 
plished, perhaps, in the former style, but can be 
added to the latter after the cast has been made 
in the usual manner and the rod brought to rest 
by at once moving the tip to the necessary direc¬ 
tion if there be an unfavorable wind. 
Facts About Nebraska. 
The pcpulation of Nebraska is 1,192,214; 
farm homes, 129,678; total homes, 223,000. Av¬ 
erage acres per farm, 297.8; average value per 
farm, $16.0.38; farms run by owners 80,237; 
farms run by renters, 49,441; automobiles in 
the State, 29,591; farm-owned automobiles, 
23.969: number per capita, i to 39.9 population; 
number of farm-owned autos per farm, i to 
5.4 farms. 
